


Mini Lions

by Eastofthemoon



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Blanket Permission, Family, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Humor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-01
Updated: 2017-04-11
Packaged: 2018-07-28 16:32:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 25,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7648360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eastofthemoon/pseuds/Eastofthemoon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lance was getting use to a lot of weird things, seeing a miniature version of his own lion on his chest was one thing he never expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, I have no plot for this thing whatsoever, this will probably just end up being a series of snippets. Hope you enjoy my silliness.

Pat pat.

There was a light touch to his cheek, but Lance swatted it away as he rolled to his side. He was having a good dream that he was back home sunbathing on the beach. Nothing was going to ruin it from him.

Pat pat

There was another tap to his cheek. Now Lance was getting annoyed, but he still tried to ignored it.

Pat pat.

Lance sighed as he pulled the blanket over his head. “Go away, Whiskers, ask Mom to feed you for once.”

Another pat came, but this time it was on his forehead.

Lance sighed. Why? Why did Whiskers always insist Lance feed him in the morning?! He was his sister’s cat for heaven’s sake-

_Wait...didn’t Whiskers die like three years ago?_

Lance’s eyes slowly opened as his sleepy brain slowly confirmed that yes, Whiskers was indeed dead. Even if she wasn’t, there was no way for her to be bugging him right now IN THE MIDDLE OF SPACE!!

Fearfully, Lance slowly pulled back the blanket, not sure if he should be relieved or not of what he was going to find there. His eyes blinked.

Well, it was a cat. A blue robotic cat, that was sitting on his chest and looking up at him.

“Um…,” Lance muttered and went stiff as the cat decided to nuzzle it’s head under Lance’s chin. “Okay, this is weird.”

A familiar purr called to him from the back of his mind, and it was a familiar sound Lance had now become instinctive to since he took that faith ride in his Lion. Lance looked down at the tiny robot and tilted his head.

“Blue..is that you?” he asked.

The robot cat gave a purr that sounded identical to one he always heard in his head.

“Okay, it’s you,” Lance said as he stood up, “but how-”

Then it came to him in a bolt of lightning. “This is Pidge and Hunk’s doing isn’t it?” he asked.

“Meow,” Blue replied with a nod.

Lance sighed as he stood up, flung on his robe and scoped Blue up into his arms. “And this is why I keep saying we can’t leave those two alone together.”

He stepped out into the hall at the exact same moment Shiro came out of his room, fully dressed and carrying a black robot cat in his arms.

Wordlessly, Lance and Shiro blinked at each other, and then their at their cats.

“So, you too?” Lance asked.

“Yeah,” Shiro said as he scratched Black’s chin. “Found her curled up against my side.”

“Okay, then,” Lance said as he turned his head down the hall. “Then do you think Keith-”

“ARRRGGHHH!” a yell came echoing down the hall.

Instantly, Shrio and Lance spirited towards Keith’s room and slammed the button to open it.

“Keith! You alright?!” Shiro asked. Lance peered inside, and covered his mouth to keep from laughing.

Keith was on the floor tangled in his blankets as he was struggling to peel off a red robotic cat off his head. Once he finally succeeded, he gasped for air and then scowled at Red.

“What the hell is this thing?!” he snapped. “One minute I’m asleep, and the next thing I know I’m waking up suffocating because this is on my face!”

“It’s your Lion, genius,” Lance said as he held up Blue. “Don’t know how, but betting Pidge and Hunk are behind this.”

Keith glanced down at Red bewildered and the now tiny Red flicked her tail in reply. “If this really is Red,” Keith asked with an arched eyebrow, “why would she wake me up by suffocating me then?!”

“You’ve never own a cat have you?” Lance answered dryly. “That’s just what cats do.”

“Morning, Paladins,” Coran greeted as he approached them, “I hope you’re all ready for a full morning of- WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE SEVEN CELESTIAL OF THE CRADTHAX JUNCTION ARE THOSE?!”

“Uh….,” Shiro said as he lifted Black to his shoulder. “The Lions...well, mini versions of the Lions.”

“GUYS!’ Hunk’s voice cried as he came racing to them. “Okay, this will be hard to explain, but the Lions are missing and-” He trailed off as Black reached a paw out to him and patted his cheek.

“Oh...nevermind, apparently they found you,” Hunk replied and as Black proceeded to swat at Coran’s mustache. 

“Hunk, what is going on?” Keith asked.

“Well, I thought Pidge and I had all the Lions barred off in the kitchen, but when I went to check on them they were gone. Figured they broke out so-”

“He means why do we have tiny Lions?!” Lance asked as he held up Blue.

“Um…yeah, that is a bit of a longer explanation, which I will happily explain once I find Yellow-” 

Hunk was cut off by a loud crash and a scream.

“HUNK!” Pidge called out. “Allura found Yellow!”

“Oooh boy,” Hunk said with a moan. “So much for easing into it.”

Lance would have said something in reply, but Blue butted her head for a pat to which Lance answered by patting her head.

08080808080808080808080808080808080 

Allura sighed as Coran set a cup of tea in front of her. “Feeling better, Princess?” he asked.

Allura gave a sigh. “I am fine, I was just startled.” She narrowed her eyes over to Yellow who was currently content in Hunk’s lap. “When I go to sit down, I was certainly not expecting to be finding a miniature version of the Yellow Lion already sitting there.”

Yellow gave a yawn as she stretched out her claws and rolled to her back.

“Hey, watch the claws,” Hunk warned. “I got this thing call skin you know.”

“Okay, questions,” Shiro asked as he raised a hand with Black sitting upright next to him. “What exactly did you guys do?”

“I’m hoping you two didn’t use a shrink ray on the Lions,” Coran replied sharply. “In this state, the most Voltron can do is attack Zarkon’s ankles.”

“The Lions are fine and in one piece,” Pidge said as she dangled a thread for Green to play with. “And this all basically started because of a joke.”

Hunk sighed as he shrugged. “Yeah, okay, see a few days ago I said ‘hey, wouldn’t it be fun if we could hang out with the Lions when it’s not training or a life or death battle?’ to which Pidge thought why couldn’t we?”

“It’s quite simple,” Pidge explained as she held up Green. “We built these scale replicas of the Lions with quantum-entangled relays for-”

“In plain english please?” Keith asked as Red was playing with the sleeve of his coat.

Pidge huffed and sighed. “These are small robot Lions that the big Lions can control wirelessly. Are those small enough words?” She gave a grin as Green choose then to leap out of her hands and jump to the ground. “So, now they can interact with us from the safety of their own barriers.”

Keith massaged his forehead. “Okay, I get how this works...kind of, but why exactly did you do this?”

“I must admit I also don’t quite understand the purpose,” Allura said.

“Well, bonding,” Hunk said with a shrug. “We’re suppose to build strong bonds with our Lions, right? So, what better way to do that then just hanging out with them in the castle-”

“You just wanted to be able to play with them,” Lance replied.

Hunk snorted. “Well...yeah, like you didn’t?” Hunk replied

“Oh, I’m not denying that,” Lance said as Blue hoped to his shoulder. “I’m just stating the obvious.”

Shiro laughed as he petted Black. “Well, guys, I got to admit this could actually be fun, and something we could use about now after all the stress we’ve been under lately.”

“Hmmm...this isn’t quite traditional,” Coran muttered, “although, if it does strengthen your bond with them, it’s not a bad idea.”

“Yeah, although, there is one drawback I did think of,” Pidge said as she turned to Allura. “Do you know where the space mice currently are?”

Allura frowned in confusion. “No, why?”

Before another word could be said, the space mice appeared as if on cue and climbed up the table. They made a beeline for the bowls of breakfast, but then they spotted the Lions. Each of them froze on the spot.

Each mouse gave a nervous squeaked as every single one of the Lions gazed upon the mice.

“Uh oh,” Coran said.

“Okay,” Shiro said slowly as he attempted to pick up Black. “Let’s just calmly pick up the Lions and- NO! BLACK, COME BACK!”

“GREEN NOT YOU TOO!”

“YELLOW, RED AND BLUE GET BACK HERE!”

“RUN MICE! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!”

The mice squeaked in free as the leaped off the table and dash out of the room every single lion chasing after them.

“I was afraid of that,” Pidge said, gloomily.

“The Lions...wouldn’t actually try to eat them would they?” Shiro asked.

“No, no,” Coran said as he shook his head, “well...at least I don’t think so.”

“You think?!” Allura asked, alarmed.

‘Well, Princess, we’ve never dealt with the Lions like this before. I mean, for all we know they may wish to experiment and-”

“Nevermind, let’s just find the Lions!” Shiro cried. “Come on, team! Hunt down the Lions!”

Keith frowned. “Now those are words I never thought I’d hear you say.”

“Yeah, yeah, come on,” Pidge said as she shoved him forward. “Let’s just go save the space mice.”

Keith said nothing else as he chased after the others. This was turning into a weird day.


	2. Sword Lessons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith ends up giving lessons to some tiny students.

Keith wiped the leftover sweat from his forehead as he entered his room. In his old routine, after he finished training, Keith would would stretch out on his bed for a bit of quiet solitude. However, he found himself unable to do that since Red, or at least the miniature version of his Lion, was curled up on her side in the centre of it.

Keith sighed. Ever since the Lions had been granted the freedom of roaming inside the castle, he found Red had a strange enjoyment to cause him as much mischief as possible. Hogging the bed seemed to be one of her more popular activities.

“Off the bed,” Keith ordered and pointed.

Red raised her head, yawned and curled up into a ball.

“Off. The bed,” Keith repeated.

He was still ignored. Keith grumbled as he lowered himself to her level.

“It’s me, Keith.,” he said, feeling a strange sense of deja vu. “I AM YOUR PALADIN. You’re in my spot.”

Red growled and swiftly swatted Keith’s nose with her tail. Disgruntled, Keith rubbed his nose and sighed.

“Fine, just stay there,” he muttered as he moved around her and went to stretch out on his bed.

When he finally got into the perfect position, Red poked her head up and before she could be stopped, climbed up on Keith’s chest.

“Really?” Keith said in dismay as he watched his Lion use him as a giant pillow.

Red said nothing as she batted his hand with her paw, which in the last few days, Keith knew translated into “I demand pats, Paladin! Serve me now!”

Keith sighed as he stared back up at his ceiling, and, without looking, used his left hand to fulfill the command.

“You know, when we decided to pilot robot lions,” Keith said in a firm tone, “I imagine us doing a lot of things, but having to be a petting machine was not one of them.”

The only response Keith got was a blissful purr that that echoed from the back of his mind. He got got comfortable, and almost let his eyes shut until he heard a squeak.

“Huh?” he muttered and lazily rolled his head to the side, but then suddenly had regrets.

The space mice were standing near the edge of the bed and each held a butter knife.

“If you’re planning to assassinate me in my sleep,” Keith said, dryly, “I would have picked something better than a butter knife.”

Red growled as she lifted up her body and prepared to pounce.

“No, no, you stay put,” Keith said as he held Red on his chest. “I am not in the mood to be chasing after you guys again.”

It had taken a good couple of hours to get the Lions to stop chasing the space mice last time, and that was after getting Red to cough out one of the mice from her mouth.

The mice squeaked again causing Keith to sigh. “So, what exactly do you guys want?”

The biggest space mouse bowed his head and held up the butter knife the way a knight would when offering his services.

Intrigued, Keith sat up, while he made certain to keep Red in his hold. “Sorry, still not following.”

The pink mouse waved, pointed to Keith and then started to wave the knife around like a sword.

Keith continued to be baffled until his brain finally put the pieces together. “You..want me..to teach you how to sword fight?”

All the mice nodded.

“Why?” Keith asked. “No offense, but you guys aren’t exactly warriors. What use could you have-”

Red gave a playful growl causing every single mouse to shake and raise their butter knives in defense.

“Oooh,” Keith said slowly as he understood. “Yeah...wanting it for self defense is fair.”

He really couldn’t blame the mice. If Keith was a tiny mouse who was terrified five robot lions were going to chase after them, he would do the same. Heck, one of the reasons he’d learned to sword fight himself was to protect himself.

“Okay, sure, I can teach you,” Keith said as he held out Red, “but only way you’ll learn is to fight against a real opponent. So, Red will be helping.” 

He glanced down to Red. “But no swallowing mice,” he glanced up to the mice, “and no actually trying to kill Red. Deal?”

Red purred which Keith knew meant a yes, and the mice looked hesitant, but nodded in agreement.

“Okay,” Keith said as he climbed off the bed. “Let’s get started.”

He sighed to himself as he watched the mice jump to the floor. When did my life get so weird?

08080808080808080808080808080808080

“Blue! Hey, Blue!” Lance called out in the hallway and sighed. “Man, where did she wander off to this time?”

Blue usually stuck to Lance like glue, her favourite spot being the inside of Lance’s hood, but then there were periods like this when she completely vanishes for no reason.

“Come on, Girl,” he grumbled. “If Allura finds out I lost track of you again, she’s going to give me another lecture-”

“You lost her again?!”

Lance’s body stiffened as he turned his head around to see Allura’s disapproving glare. 

“Oh, hey, Allura,” Lance said as he put on an instant smile. “May I say you are looking lovely today-”

“Did you lose Blue again?” Allura asked as her eye twitched.

Lance coughed. “Look, I didn’t lose her, she just took her miniature self and decided to wandered off somewhere.”

Allura sighed. “Lance, the point of having smaller versions of the Lions was so you and the other paladins can forge stronger bonds with them.” She stepped forward with her arms folded. “But in order to do that, you need to keep your Lion close to you at all times! You can not lose your Lion!”

Lance sighed as he rubbed his eyes. “Look, I didn’t do anything. If Blue decides she needs to go off for some ‘alone’ time, I can’t stop her.”

“Of course you can,” Allura insisted. “You just have to be firm and tell her to stay put.”

Lance raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Allura, just out of curiosity, did you guys have cats on Altea?”

Allura dropped her scrowl and frowned. “Well, yes. They were a bit bigger than the cats Hunk has shown me from Earth, but we had them.”

“Okay,” Lance said as he took his hands out of his pocket. “More importantly, have you ever owned a cat?”

“Um...no,” Allura said.

Lance massaged his forehead. “That explains a lot.” He raised his head. “Look, as a person who has had two cats in his life, let me tell you that fighting Zarkon by yourself with a paperclip would be easier than trying to get a cat to listen to you.”

Allura blinked slightly and then shook her head. “Oh, stop exaggerating. You just need to be firm.”

“Yeah, sure, that will work,” Lance said as he folded his arms. “First off I-”

“No, no, not like that! You need to strengthen your stance!”

Lance paused as he turned his head. “Was that Keith?”

“That’s it! Keep your sword straight, but tightened your grip!”

“It is,” Allura commented, “and it sounds like he’s training.”

“In his room?” Lance asked as he immediately headed towards Keith’s room. “Better check this out.”

“Why?” Allura asked dryly as she followed him.

“Because I am concerned about my fellow paladins well being.”

“Are you? Because I can’t help, but think you’re just trying to change the conversation.”

Lance ignored her, even though Allura was right on the nose, and made a beeline to Keith’s room. The door left open and made easy to glance inside and when Lance did, he blinked.

“What the hell..” he muttered as Allura joined him and instantly shared the same confused expression on her face.

Keith didn’t register either of them as he sat cross legged on the floor and kept his focus on the mice.

“Better, but you need to practice your swing more,” he said as the mice all continually swung a butter knife at Red who was swatting her paw at them. “In a bit, we can go to the training room. You guys can practice fighting while running-”

“Keith, what in the world are you doing to the space mice?” Allura asked as she looked ready to swoop in and rescue her precious rodent friends.

Keith glanced up and folded his arms with a serious frown. “I’m giving them sword lessons and Red is helping.”

“Why?” Lance asked.

“Because they asked me to,” Keith said with a shrug as a mouse jumped and flipped away before Red could strike him. “I figure it was fair if Red and the other Lions were going to keep going after them.”

Lance raised an eyebrow as his brain process what he was hearing. “And they’re using Red as target practice?”

Keith nodded.

“Is that really such a good idea?” Allura asked, concerned.

“She’s having fun with it,” Keith said with a smirk and patted Red’s head. “Aren’t you, Girl?”

Red gave a playful growl as the mice attempted to poke her leg with a knife.

“I seriously question the way you two define ‘fun.’ ” Lance replied.

Before Keith could snark back a reply a second growl was heard. Blue came racing around the corner, grabbed onto Lance’s pant leg and effortless climbed him until he reached his shoulder.

Lance gave a smile as Blue nuzzled his cheek. “Hey, Girl, about time you showed up.”

Blue purred, then climbed around Lance’s neck to land inside the hood of his sweater. Once safely inside, she peek her head out to give a content growl.

“Just watch your claws, please,” Lance asked, “I just sewed back there from the last time you crawled in there...what?”

Both Allura and Keith stared at him in surprise.

“Isn’t she heavy?” Keith asked as Red stretched and decided to take a break in his lap..

“Naw,” Lance said with a shrug. “No heavier than my other cats were, besides Pidge made her slightly smaller than the others, so we’re good.”

“Hmm..,” Allura said as Blue flicked her ears back at her. “Strange.”

“Uh, not really,” Lance replied. “Black is the biggest Lion and Pidge and Hunk made sure she was. Plus, Blue was always the smallest-”

“No, no, not that,” Allura said with a frown. “I’m just wondering why there’s dirt on Blue’s paws.”

“Well, last mission literally ended with us all in the mud as I recall,” Keith replied as the mice collapsed and looked ready for a nap. “She probably just rolled around in the dirty laundry.”

“I suppose,” Allura said as she folded her arms. “But it’s just Blue has always been such a tidy Lion. It just seems odd-”

A screamed roared out in the hallway, causing everyone to jump. Before anyone could move, Coran appeared and skidded to a stop when he spotted them.

“A ha! There you are! You trespasser!” he declared as he marched forward.

Lance staggered backwards as Blue peeked over his shoulder. “What?! Why are you glaring at me-”

“Not you!” Coran said as he pointed directly at Blue. “It’s you! YOU CAN’T DENY IT! CAUGHT HEAD DEEP IN A SNARFLAX HOLE! The mud on your paws proves it!”

Blue growled and tried to swap at claw at Coran before he pulled it back.

“Ha! Nice try you snarling beast!” Coran jeered.

“Will, somebody please explain what’s going on?” Allura asked as Keith rose with Red in his arms.

“It’s simple, Princess,” Coran said as he twirled his mustache. “For the last few days, someone has been sneaking into my room and causing a huge mess.” He counted off his fingers. “Knocks everything over, my clothes and socks tossed the ground and now I have mud all over my bed.”

He pointed right at Blue. “And now I have evidence that was you!”

Lance blinked and tilted his head to Blue. “Is that where you’ve been sneaking off to lately?”

Blue growled in a manner that Lance knew meant “Yup, and it was fun too.”

“Wait, that doesn’t make any sense,” Keith said as he scratched under Red’s chin. “Why would Blue be targeting your room?”

“Yeah, that’s not like Blue,” Lance said in a huff. “I know my Lion, and she wouldn’t bother doing something like that…” He trailed off and stared at Coran suspiciously. “Unless, she’s holding a grudge.”

“What?!” Allura said. “That’s preposterous! Coran has never done anything to cause Blue to hold a grudge.”

Coran puffed out his chest. “You are absolutely right! I have done nothing…” He paused, eyes widening and glanced down to Blue. 

“Wait,” he said slowly as he pulled his head closer to Blue. “You’re not still..upset over THAT are you?”

Blue snarled as swiped at paw at him again, forcing Coran to jump back before his lost his mustache.

“But that was over ten thousand years ago!” he argued.

“What are you talking about?” Keith asked as Red leaped back to the floor.

Coran coughed as he twirled his mustache. “Well..you may recall that I was a bit of a gambler in my youth-”

“Oh, we remember,” Keith grumbled dryly. “Kind of ingrained into our minds after that mess we got into having to pay off your debt after ten thousand years.”

“I still got bruises over that,” Lance muttered as Blue gave a growl. They were going to hold that over Coran a LONG time.

“Well...you see,” Coran explained. “I once made a bet with Blue’s previous paladin to which they lost.”

“Uh..okay,” Lance said as he folded his arms, “but I can’t see Blue wanting to keep a grudge over that.”

“...She would if she found out I cheated...just slightly.”

“CORAN!” Allura exclaimed.

“I was young and foolish and it was just a friendly wager!” Coran argued, and sighed. “However, the bet involved a race, to which Blue lost and got her pride rather wounded.”

“And ten thousand years later, she’s taking it out on your room,” Lance concluded. “Dude, you should be glad that’s all she’s doing. If it was me, I’d be doing a lot more.”

Blue growled as she nuzzled against Lance’s neck.

“Pride or not, this foolishness has to stop,” Allura said in a firm tone, and looked to Blue. “I understand your feelings, but you need to forgive Coran and let go of your grudge.”

Blue blinked as if she was debating about it, and then swiftly shook her head before pulling her head into Lance’s hood.

“She says ‘No’,” Lance translated.

“Course she did,” Keith said as he leaned against the doorway. “It’s not like she’s going to let go of her grudge because she tells you to. She’s a cat.”

“Ha!” Lance cried as he pointed to Keith. “See! He gets it!”

“How about a compromise then?” Allura said as Blue pulled her head back out. “Blue, would you be willing to forgive Coran if he did something to make it up to you?”

“Um..and what exactly would that be?” Keith said. “It’s not like she needs to eat or anything.”

“No,” Lance replied slowly and then grinned, “but Blue has been wanting to get a proper bath lately. Haven’t you, Girl?”

Blue looked to Lance intrigued and gave a nod.

“A cat that likes water?” Keith asked in dismay.

“She’s the Lion of water, remember?” Lance replied, “and my Lion feels the need to look as good as I do.”

Keith looked ready to reply with a comeback, but Coran cut in with a laugh.

“Ah, well, if that’s all it takes, I’ll gladly give the little lady a bath.” Coran reached out to pet Blue, but promptly pulled back as Blue growled at him.

“No, no, no,” Lance said as he shook a finger. “We don’t mean mini Blue, here, we’re talking big original Blue.” The small lion nodded and gave a cheeky little grin.

Keith held back a chuckle and Allura and Coran’s eyes widened.

“Are you serious?!” Allura said. “That would be equivalent to washing a whole ship!”

“That’s insane!” Coran said as he tossed up his arms. “There has to be something else-”

“It’s up to you, dude,” Lance replied, “either give Blue a proper cleaning, or you can spend the rest of your time trying to clean up your place.”

Coran glared at Lance and Blue, as he tapped his elbow. After a long moment he gave a deep sigh. “Very well, if that’s what it will take to get some peace, I’ll do it.” He muttered under his breath about finding a big enough mop as he walked off.

Allura shook her head. “I need some tea,” she said and waved to the boys. “And I hope you two can keep your Lions out of any further trouble.

Keith and Lance said nothing as they watched Allura leave. 

“So,” Keith said as he looked to Lance. “Blue is going to jump in a large mud puddle or something next mission isn’t she?”

“Yup,” Lance said with a slow nod, “probably.”

A sudden squeak was heard below and the boys glanced down to see the space mice tugging on Keith’s pants.

“Right, we’ll get back to the lesson,” Keith said as he picked up Red. “We really need to work on your guys stances.”

“Mind if Blue and I watch?” Lance said with a shrug. “I got nothing else better to do right now.”

“Knock yourself out,” Keith said and smirked. “You can teach the mice on what they shouldn’t do.”

“Naw, you do that naturally,” Lance replied.

Red growled with a nod.

“Ha! She agrees with me!” Lance cried, as he tucked his hands into his pockets.

“Of course she did,” Keith said as Lanced and the other two Lions laughed in unison.


	3. Lullaby

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro has nightmares, but has a friend comfort him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, this is short, but at least I got a sketch to go along with it.

It was the same nightmare. Random bits and pieces that he could barely comprehend. Being dragged and tossed into a dark cell. The screaming and crying echoing throughout the halls. The desperate faces that would haunt him in the battle ring. There was no hope here.

No escape.

_Grrr._

He had to get out.

_Grrr!_

He was strapped down, called them every curse word and insult he could think of.

_Grr!_

They didn’t care, and proceeded to cut into his shoulder-

_GRR!_

Shiro bolted up right in his bed. His eyes searched the room for a weapon he could use in the dark, until he felt something headbutt his side.

Panting, he glanced down to see his lion growling softly at him.

“Black?” he whispered and shut his eyes to breath. “Right, not in Zarkon’s prison. I’m in the castle, I’m in the castle,” he repeated to himself and rang his fingers through his hair. “I’m safe, I’m in the castle.”

Black inched closer and butted his elbow with her nose. Shiro gave a soft smile as he reached out and scratched under Black’s chin. It was becoming an odd routine between them.

[](http://s183.photobucket.com/user/earthstarchan/media/shiro%20and%20mini%20black.jpg.html)

Shiro would have one of his nightmares and wake up to find Black nuzzling against him and demanding pats. The purring from her indicated she enjoyed the gesture, but truthfully, it was beneficial to Shiro. His mind was often in a live or die haze whenever he broke out from his nightmares. 

Petting Black was grounding. It was a reminder of the here and now, a reminder that he didn’t have to fight tooth and nail. At least not tonight.

“Thanks, Black,” Shiro whispered as he pulled Black in for a cuddle. Even though she was made of metal and gears, the heat from her engine caused her to give off a pleasant warmth.

Black gave a gentle growl as she lay her head into his lap. Shiro chuckled amused.

“You know, you remind me a lot of Bandit,” he said.

Black flickered her ears curiously at him.

“My grandpa’s old dog,” Shiro said, as he kept talking and laid back on his pillow. “Died when I was sixteen, but when I had nightmares, always found him laying next to my bed.”

Black gave a huff, which Shiro translated as “I am no dog.”

He gave a laugh. “Sorry, didn’t mean it as an insult.” His hand stroked her ears. “It’s just...comforting.”

Black tilted her head, but seemed to understand as she started to purr. Shiro continued to fiddle with her ears, until his eyes began to close again. 

Like a lullaby he heard his mother sing to him as a child, Black continue to purr and soothed him back to sleep. He briefly wondered if Black just saw him as a giant kitten to take care of. He smiled to himself amused and let sleep claim him again.

No more nightmares came that night, and even if they did, Black made certain she would be there to drive them away.


	4. Pancakes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith gets exposed to something he's never had before...pancakes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got this out a lot sooner than I expected. Hope you all enjoy this and thanks to everyone for reading this. ^_^

Hunk frowned as he emptied his mind and concentrated on what was in front of him. He had a critical decision to make. Wrong move here, and everything would be ruined.

“I got everything else ready,” Hunk said as he glanced over to his partner in this endeavour, “and it comes down to this.”

He picked up the small jar of powder he had freshly ground. “What do you think, Girl? Add cinnamon to these pancakes or not?”

Yellow tilted her head in confusion as she blinked at the jar and then back to Hunk.

“Okay, it’s not exactly cinnamon,” Hunk stated as he brought the mixing bowl of the batter closer. “But from what I smell and tasted, it’s close enough and it could give these pancakes the proper kick.” He frowned. “Although, since this is an unfamiliar alien plant for all I know it can cause the pancakes to taste like slime or something.”

He twisted off the lid and held it out to Yellow. “So, what you think, Girl? Risk it?”

Yellow peeked into the mixing bowl like she was debating. Then, she raised her head and tapped a paw on the jar and caused the cinnamon like substance to fall into the bowl.

“Risk it is!” Hunk declared as he picked up the spoon to stir it all in. “Yeah, I would have done the same.”

From across the room, Pidge turned around from her computer and raised an eyebrow. “I swear the only time I hear you talk of ‘taking risks’ is when you’re cooking.”

“Yeah, well, there’s a difference between worrying about getting a stomache ache and worrying if we’re going to get blown up today.” 

Pidge gave a shrug as she went back to examine the plans for the cleaning robot she was putting together. “Okay, just let me know when pancakes are ready,” she said with a wave.

“Will do,” Hunk said as he put the bowl down. “Right, so now all I have to do is turn on the frying pan.” 

He picked up the pan, and ladle to pour as he turned back around to the bowl. “Yellow, we are going to have space pancakes for breakfast-”

Hunk froze. Yellow was no longer the sole observer of the mixing bowl. Green had joined her and she held the mischievous gleam in her eye Hunk had become all too familiar with recently.

He winced as Green gently tapped the bottom of the mixing bowl with her paw.

“Green,” Hunk warned as he shook the ladle at her. “Don’t you dare. We got pancake business going on here.”

Green lifted a paw.

“Green, no.”

She gleefully whacked the bowl off the counter.

“Arrg! GREEN!” Hunk cried as he dived bombed for the bowl. It landed in his hands and somehow he kept his grip as he fell on both his stomach and his face. Hunk grumbled as the batter sloshed over the edge and dripped over the onto the floor.

Yellow hoped to the floor and dipped her paw curiously into the spilled batter before taking a lick.

“Yellow, don’t eat off the floor, you’re better than that,” Hunk said as he stood up and sighed. He glanced back up to see Green looking over him from the counter.

“No, pancakes for you,” Hunk scolded in a tone he was certain he heard his own mother use on him once as a child.

Green growled that sounded an awful lot like “Don’t care, still worth it.”

Pidge’s laughter echoed throughout the room. “Green, c’mere!” 

The Green Lion turned and dashed to the table. She jumped up onto the table, nuzzled her paladin’s cheek and then hopped inside the toolbox. Pidge laughed as Green poked her head out.

“Can’t see how that’s comfy, but whatever floats your boat,” Pidge said as she checked over her robot so far.

Hunk gave a frustrated growl. “Pidge, would you PLEASE tell Green to stop whacking things off the counter?!” He held up the bowl. “That’s the fifth time this week I had to rescue breakfast.”

Yellow would have given a growl to agree with him, but she was currently too busy playing with the spoon she found.

“No way,” Pidge said with a smirk as she adjusted her glasses. “It’s one of her most useful skills.”

Hunk raised an eyebrow. “How is knocking things over useful?”

Pidge kept her smirk as she glanced to her lion. “Hey, Green, mind getting me that wrench from the top shelf?”

Green glanced to the shelf in question and in one quick movement leaped out of the toolbox, raced and climbed up the shelves until she got to the wrench. Then, Green positioned herself and hit the wrench with her paw. 

It flew until Pidge managed to catch it in midair. “Thanks,” she and looked back to Hunk as Green climbed down. “See, useful.”

Hunk sighed and rolled his eyes. “Yeah, sure, if you say so.”

The doors to the kitchen opened as Blue and Red dashed inside wrestling with each other as Lance and Keith followed them in.

“Hey, take it easy you two,” Lance warned as he tucked his hands into his pockets. “Coran is still giving us that earful from that vase you broke.”

Keith raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t you break that vase?”

“Nope, you’re totally misremembering,” Lance chided.

“Don’t think so. Pretty sure that was you trying to show me your cool action hero skills-”

“Anyway,” Lance cut in and leaned against the counter. “Hunk, got any plans for breakfast or is it another goo fest?”

Hunk gave a proud grin as he puffed out his chest with pride. “Nope, breakfast and best of all, it’s going to be pancakes.”

Lance’s eyes lit up as if someone just told him it was both Christmas and his birthday all rolled into one.

“Dude, are you seriously making pancakes?! Lance exclaimed gleefully. “I’ve been craving those for like weeks!”

“Yup,” Hunk said, “well, at least I think I figured out a recipe for it. Won’t know for certain until we try it.”

“Even if it only has half the flavor of a pancake, I don’t care,” Lance stated. “I’ll take anything at this point.”

Keith folded his arms as he leaned against the table. “Um..what is the big deal? It’s just food.”

Lance rolled his eyes. “Uh, yeah, but pancakes are the best breakfast comfort food ever created.”

“No, they’re not, waffles are,” Pidge declared from the table.

“Pidge, we are not getting into this argument again!” Lance said and turned back to Keith. “Come on, Keith. You got to at least agree that pancakes are better than waffles.”

Keith shrugged. “I have no clue since I have never eaten either.”

Lance stared in horror. Pidge blinked curiously. Hunk dropped his spoon and looked someone just stepped on his toes.

“You...have never eaten a pancake?!’ Hunk exclaimed. When Keith nodded, Hunk scowled and punched a fist into his palm. “Okay, no way am I letting this travesty continue. You’re getting the first pancake, Keith!”

“Um..that’s okay,” Keith said as he tried to step away and out of the kitchen. “I’ll go train and get breakfast later. I really don’t need-”

“Lions, block him!” Lance declared as he pointed to the door.

Keith yelped as Blue, Green, Yellow and even his own Red Lion raced and blocked his way at the doorway. Each of them growled, daring for the boy to try to get past them.

“Really, Red?” Keith said with his hands on his hips. “You too?”

Red gave a smirk and growled.

Keith sighed as he went to sit down. “Fine, I’ll accept my fate. Happy?” 

“Not until you have a pancake,” Hunk said as he heated up the pan and started to pour the batter on top. “Now, sit.”

Keith said as he went to the table and sat next to Pidge, and seconds later was joined by Red hopping onto his lap. 

“You realize there are plenty of other seats, right?” Keith said, dryly.

Red ignored the comment and simply curled up while butting Keith’s hand for pats. The boy sighed and complied as he looked to the others. “Hey, has anyone seen, Shiro? Haven’t seen him yet this morning.”

“I’m here!” Shiro called out as he entered with Black beside him. “Was discussing with Coran about the new training program he wants to try out on us later.” 

“Yes, great, very vital,” Lance said as he leaned over his chair. “Shiro, did you know Keith has never eaten pancakes before?”

Keith growled and slammed his fist on the table. “It’s not that big of a deal?!”

Shiro raised an eyebrow as he glanced to Hunk. “I’m guessing you’re making pancakes?”

“It’s an experiment,” Hunk explained as he flipped one of the pancakes and Yellow peeked over to see what Hunk was up to. “But, we’re making Keith try the first one since he’s never had them before.”

Shiro glanced to Black as he stroked his chin and then to Keith. “Um...actually, Keith, you have eaten pancakes before.”

Keith blinked in confusion along with Red who poked her head up curiously. “I have?”

“For your 16th birthday,” Shiro explained as he took a seat. “My mom made you those for breakfast, remember?”

Keith shut his eyes in deep thought, but then they opened and widened. “THAT”S what those were? They tasted like charcoal?!”

Shiro coughed and gave an awkward smile as he rubbed the back of his head. “Yeah...I never said she was an expert at them, but at least her heart was in the right place.”

“Further reason to give Keith good pancakes now,” Hunk said as he slid a syrup covered pancake on a plate towards him along with a fork, and a knife. “Well, at least I hope they taste good.”

All eyes were suddenly on Keith, including all five lions. Red seemed to be especially daring him to try a bite. 

The boy shifted uncomfortably under their gazes, but sighed as he picked up the knife and fork. He cut into the pancake and placed it within his mouth.

“Well?” Hunk called out as he transferred the other pancakes onto a plate. “How is it?”

Keith frowned thoughtfully as he chewed and swallowed. Gradually, he turned around to Hunk. “Okay, I’ll admit they’re good…” He blushed a little bit. “Very good, happy?”

Hunk beamed with pride as he placed the stack of pancakes on the table. “Immensely.”

“Waffles are still better,” Pidge argued as she shoved her tools aside for the moment.

“Pidge, I promise I try to make waffles next,” Hunk said as he kneeled to scratch Yellow’s ear. “Only hard part is trying to find a waffle iron.”

“Well,” Pidge said thoughtfully. “Maybe I could make one out of-”

“Arrg! Green! Blue!” Lance cried out.

All heads turned as both Green and Blue yanked a mouthful of pancakes from the stack.

“Bad Lion! Bad Lion!” Lance cried, but the lions ignored him and jumped off the table with their stolen goods. 

“Get back here!” Pidge cried as both she, Lance and Hunk chased after them.

Shiro sighed as he took a seat and looked to Keith. He decided to not point out that Keith had already devoured the pancake he’d been given. 

He then heard a squeak and took a sideway glance. The spacemice were peeking over at the table from atop of Black’s head.

Guess at least Black made peace with them, Shiro thought. He reached over and took one of the smaller remaining pancakes. 

“Want one?” he offered.

The mice nodded and barely wanted for Shiro to drop the pancake before diving into it.

Shiro laughed as he eased back. “It’s never boring around here.”

“No,” Keith said as snagged another pancake pancake and added syrup to it. “It never is.”

Black, Yellow and Red both growled in agreement as the frustrated cries echoed in the hallway.


	5. Knitting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Allura learns one of Hunk's unspoken skills.

It had been a long day, and Allura felt ready to flop onto her bed as she walked down the hall. The fight to take back the ice planet Zoskeia from the Galra had been hard, but they did it. The people were grateful to Voltron and it’s Paladins.

Then, of course, came the more boring and just as draining part. Diplomatic meetings with the Zoskeia Queen and forming an alliance. It was a long process of negotiations, forming vows and developing policies both sides could agree with.

It was a much needed process, but it didn’t make it any less exhausting. She sighed to herself as she rotated her shoulders. “Maybe I should have a hot bath tonight,” she muttered.

A soft growl caused Allura to jump and paused just in time to see Yellow tumbling out of the debrief room with a ball of green yarn in her paws. Allura blinked, uncertain what she was seeing as Yellow joyfully unraveled the yarn and became tangled in it.

Allura would have imagined any other creature would be distressed by this, but Yellow was purring quite happily.

“Would you care for some assistance?” Allura asked as she kneeled.

Yellow raised her head and gave a slow nod, but she kept her paws tightly around the ball of yarn.

“I promise I will not take your ball,” Allura said as she gently picked up the ball and slowly untangled Yellow from it. She then wrapped the yarn back around the ball and set it on the ground.

“There you go,” she said with a smile.

Yellow’s tail wag as she lowered her front and batted the ball with her paw back into the room. Intrigued, Allura glanced inside and found Hunk sitting on the couch with a basket of more brightly coloured balls of yarn beside him.

What was even more interesting was that Hunk himself had taken a ball of green yarn and appeared to be knotting it with a pair of needles.

“Hunk?,” she asked as she entered hoping she wasn’t startling him.

Hunk raised his head and didn’t seem the least bothered with Yellow batting the ball of yarn by his feet. “Oh, hey, Allura. Finally done with that meeting?”

“An hour ago,” Allura said as she took a seat and pointed to the basket. “But I’m more curious on where you obtained all of this.”

Hunk blinked in confusion and then realized she meant the yarn. 

“Oh, right,” he said as he held up the basket. “Remember that market we hit on that ice planet?”

“Yes,” Allura said. 

After the battle, the Paladins had decided to explore Zoskeia largest market. Allura hadn’t been able to tag along, but from her understanding, they had found many ‘useful’ items. Although, she still wasn’t certain how the ice machine was useful, but Pidge seemed certain she could turn it into an ice cream maker, whatever that was.

Hunk gave a grin as he put the basket down. “Well, I found this yarn stall and the lady who was selling let me have all this yarn for free, you know as a thank you for helping their planet. She even threw in a dozen pair of needles.”

“Well, that was nice of her,” Allura said as Yellow tossed the ball of yarn up in the air and causing the yarn to unravel. 

“Yeah, although I told her I was more than happy to pay, but she refused to take ‘No’ for an answer,” Hunk said as he returned to his project on the green yarn. “Got to say, feels good to knit. I haven’t done it in ages.”

“Knit?” Allura asked. “Is that what you’re doing is called?”

“It’s actually called ‘knitting’,” Hunk explained as he held up the yarn and needles. “Um..don’t know if you guys did it on Altea.”

“We had something similar,” Allura said as she sat down. “We called it ‘knotting’ and my great aunt use to do it.” She frowned curiously. “Although, I didn’t realize you had such a skill.”

Hunk shrugged. “My mom taught me. I use to have a lot of anxiety as a kid.”

Allura raised an eyebrow. 

“Okay, more than what I have now,” Hunk explained, “and knitting was a good way for me to learn to relax.” 

A growl was heard from across the room. Hunk and Allura turned their heads to see Yellow had entangled herself in the yarn again.

Allura giggled. “Oh, dear. That’s not good.”

Hunk sighed, but didn’t sound annoyed by it. “Hang on, Girl. I’ll free you.”

Allura watched as Hunk put down his project and moved to go untangle his lion. She fingered the soft material and held it up for a closer look. She was no expert in this field, but from what she saw, it held a good tension and didn’t seem likely it would unravel.

“There we go,” Hunk said as he picked up the yarn and formed it into a ball. “You still want it?” he asked.

Yellow growled as she sat up and waved her paws edgarly. 

“Alright, there you go,” Hunk said as he tossed the paw and Yellow joyfully went after it.

“You could always give her an actual ball,” Allura suggested as Hunk returned to his seat.

“Naw, she likes it and you can’t get more classic than letting a cat play with a ball of yarn.”

Allura frowned. She didn’t quite understand how yarns and cats had to do with each other. Perhaps it was another Earth custom, like the high fives she had seen the Paladins exchange with each other.

She glanced to the basket and her eyes landed on a lavender ball of yarn. It even seemed to have strands of of silver running through it to make it shimmer slightly.

“Could...I learn how to knit?” she asked, sounding more shy than she meant to.

Hunk paused in his knitting. “Uh..sure.” He reached into the basket and brought out a pair of needles that had been tied together. “It takes practice though.”

“That’s fine,” Allura said as she tooked the pair and untied the string. Truthfully, the idea of finding something that could take her mind off her responsibilities sounded quite inviting, even if it was only for awhile.

“Alright, we’ll start you off with a scarf,” Hunk said as he held up the basket of yarn for Allura. “That’s the best way to practice until you get the hang of it.”

“Is that what you’re making?” Allura asked as she took the lavender yarn.

“I’m trying for a sweater,” Hunk said with a shrug. “Remember how much Pidge complained about being cold on that planet? Thought she could wear this under her armor.”

Allura gave a nodded as she unraveled her yarn. “Perhaps, eventually we can make a sweater for each of the Paladins.” Not to mention Coran would jump at the chance to wear one proudly..

Hunk smiled. “Yeah, and then all we’ll need are cookies and mugs of hot chocolate and we be all set.”

Yellow growled as she raised her head.

“Yes, you would get cookies too,” Hunk promised.

Yellow purred pleased as she batted her ball of yarn again.

Allura giggled and the moment felt this was much better than a hot bath.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, yeah, I realized I haven't done much with Allura yet for this fic so thought this idea would be good for that. Plus, I totally headcanon that Hunk does know how to knit and is proud of it.


	6. Lasers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Paladins show Allura and Coran another use for an Altean tool.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, here’s another mini lions snippet, but this one I have to admit I got inspiration from both lanauu Pidge and Rover playing with Green post: http://lanauu.tumblr.com/post/151714144799/rover-playing-with-green-lion-cub-bd and Maskenjager Lance playing lasers with Blue post: http://maskenjager.tumblr.com/post/151566044667
> 
> So thanks to them for that, and also a thanks to my husband for helping me come up with the different names for Altean tools.

Shiro was not the least bit surprised to see Coran, Pidge, and Hunk working in the hangar while Green and Yellow tussled with each other on the floor. He was admittedly a bit baffled as to why they were surrounded by a bunch of tool kits and had several tools spread out on the floor with various labels written on them.

Shiro exchanged a puzzled look with Black who gave no obvious answer, almost like she was aloofly saying “Don’t ask me, I know just as much as you do.”

“Okay, Coran what is this doo-hickey,” Pidge said as she held up a spiral-like tool that seemed to glow.

Coran tugged at his mustache as he moved in for a closer look. “Ah, that would be a maldovrimer. It’s used for some welding projects.”

Pidge raised an eyebrow at the tool as Green poked her nose into the toolbox next to her and crawled inside.

“I’m labeling it as a welding torch,” Pidge said as she wrote it down.

“Um, no you can’t,” Hunk said as he held up a purple piece of metal with a zigzag edge. “That’s what we called this thing.”

“Oh, but the zipcaster is for very miniature projects,” Coran explained as Yellow poked at one of the tools and Coran shoved her aside with his foot. “It’s a very delicate instrument.”

“Okay, big welding torch and mini welding torch, let's move on,” Pidge replied.

“What are you guys doing?” Shiro asked as he approached, able to no longer stand being just an observer.

“We’re having Coran explain what exactly each of these tools are so we can label them into stuff we understand,” Hunk said as he picked up a hand drawn chart. “See?”

Shiro glanced over it. He saw various drawings of alien tools he had seen Coran use, but Hunk’s familiar handwriting was carefully written under each one.

“That makes sense,” Shiro said as Black raised her head to see too. He frowned as he tapped a drawing near the bottom. “Wait, that’s a wrench? I thought it was a flashlight.”

Hunk chuckled. “Yeah, so did I, but turns out that’s this weird thing on the right.”

Coran huffed slightly. “They may be odd to you humans, but I’ll have you know these are very basic tools used by-”

“Coran, what is this thing?” Pidge cut in as she held up a thin metal object with a loop at the end.

Coran frowned and suddenly snapped his fingers. “Oh, that’s actually a teaching instrument. I have no clue how it wound up in the tools.” 

“A teaching instrument?” Shiro asked as he folded his arms while Black went to stretch out on the floor. “How so?”

“Let me show you, it’s quite simple,” Coran said as he picked up the small object and hit a button. A bright red beam zoomed out and the tip landed on the floor. “See, this is for pointing to objects too high up to reach normally.”

“It’s a laser pointer,” Pidge stated in a matter of fact tone as she folded her arms unimpressed.

“Well, I suppose that’s a word for it,” Coran said as he spun the laser nonchalantly, “but it’s actually refer to as a limindeek.”

“No, she means we have the exact same thing on our planet,” Hunk explained, “and we just call them laser pointers.”

“Huh...it’s not a very original name,” Coran commented thoughtfully.

“No, it’s a practical name,” Pidge argued.

Shiro tuned out the discussion as he spotted Black moving closer to the red dot the laser formed on the floor. Her tail waved back and forth as she poked at it with her paw. He noticed the Green was eyeing the laser like it was a mouse from the toolbox, and Yellow kept peeking at it from behind Hunk.

Shiro grinned. Oh, he knew what he had to do. “Hey, Coran, can I borrow that?”

Coran frowned, but then gave a thoughtful frown as he turned off the laser. “Ah, yes, I see. This could be very useful in the next training exercise.”

Coran seemed oblivious to the pout the lions were giving him.

Shiro gave a sheepish laugh as he ran a hand through his hair. “Um...not exactly.” He pressed the on switch and held it out. “Watch this.”

The tiny red dot appeared on the floor again and just as Shiro anticipated Black lowered her front. Shiro laughed as he waved the little dot back and forth on the floor, and it proved it was the final straw as Black leaped and pounced on the dot.

However, Black blinked in confusion as the dot was not within her paws, but a few inches away where Shiro moved it.

Green gave a growl as she jumped out of the toolbox and was followed by Yellow. All three lions growled playfully as they tried to catch the taunting red dot. Yet, despite their efforts, Shiro kept moving the dot again and again.

Hunk laughed as Pidge clapped in approval. “Good thinking, Shiro! I can’t believe I forgot to try that!” she cried.

“I still don’t understand what you’re doing?” Coran said as he scratched his head. “Or why Green and Yellow are joining in on this?”

“It’s fun,” Shiro explained as he watched Green jump over Black to pounce. “We do this on Earth with cats all the time.”

“Hmm...doesn’t seem useful to me,” Coran muttered. “And I’m not sure if the Princess would approve you tormenting the lions in such a manner.”

“We’re not tormenting them,” Hunk replied. “Well...okay, it might seem like tormenting, but it's not a malicious tormenting, we’re playing with them.”

Shiro grinned as he turned off the laser pointer and gave it back to Coran. “Here, give it a try.”

Coran looked doubtful, but reluctantly took the laser pointer. The lions froze as they stared hopefully with baited breath.

Coran straightened his posture and turned the laser back on. He moved the little dot in the centre of the room and jumped as Yellow pounced on it. However, he regained his composure as he accidently moved the dot to the left and saw Green and Black try to trap it between them.

As the lions gave chase, a smile gradually formed over Coran’s lips. Before anyone else could mention it, Coran gave a hard laugh and was waving it madly.

“Oh my..Yes! Yes! Ha ha! Catch it you little rascals! My goodness this is fun!” Coran said.

Pidge laughed as she grinned evilly. “You bet it is, and I just got an idea.”

Shiro laughed. “I know that look, what are you scheming?”

Pidge grinned as she looked very tempted to give an evil laugh.

0808080808080808080808080808080

The recreation room was rarely quiet in Keith’s experience, but when it was, he greatly enjoyed it. He sat on the couch reading over the battle report with Red tucked into his side as she dozed.

Lance was sitting across from him with Blue also napping at his side, but neither of them paid any attention to Keith. Lance was too preoccupied bopping his head to the beat of the music from his headphones. The fact that Keith could hear the music from where he sat made him wince.

_He’ll be lucky if he doesn’t go deaf in his old age,_ he thought before returning his gaze to the report. 

Then, all of a sudden, Red growled. Keith paused and glanced down. He was learning that Red had different growls and the meanings behind him. A deep growl was her being protective or annoyed. A long growl meant Red was angry. The soft growl either meant she was being affectionate or she was playful, the later usually resulting in trouble.

He watched as Red stood and stared directly at Lance with her whole front lowered.  
“Red,” he said as he went to pull her back. “Just what exactly are you doing-”

It was too late. Red pounced, sailed through the air and landed perfectly on Lance’s chest. The boy screamed bloody murder as he fell over onto the floor. 

Blue jumped and hissed irritated as Lance fumbled to shove Red off. Lance glared, but Red didn’t seem to notice or care and seemed to be searching the room for something.

Lance then sharply turned his head as he removed his headphones. “Keith?! Why the hell did you tell Red to attack me?”

Keith choked and narrowed his eyes. “I didn’t do anything!”

“Oh, so I’m suppose to believe Red did it randomly?!” Lance exclaimed as he climbed to his feet.

“You’re the one that’s always insists cats are unpredictable!”

Lance’s angry scowl lessened slightly. “Yeah, well...okay, that's actually a good point,” he said as he folded his arms. “But it’s still suspicious-”

Blue’s growl cut him off. Both of the boys turned to see that Blue and Red had both locked their gazes directly at Keith now. The small lions stealthly stalked towards him like he was a wild bird to catch.

“Alright,” Keith said as he slowly tried to climb off the couch. “I’m just going to leave and-ARRG!”

The lions struck and in perfect unison attacked Keith. The Red Paladin’s voice was muffled as the lions knocked him to the floor. Keith barely had a chance to groan before the lions lifted their heads and dashed to the other side of the room.

Keith opened an eye as Lance hovered over him.

“Oookay,” Lance said as he offered a hand. “Maybe you didn’t tell them to attack me.”

Keith rolled his eyes as he took the hand. “Nice to see you believe me once it's obvious.” He frowned. “But what is going on with...”

He trailed off as a flash of red caught his eye. He glanced and saw a red dot was on the floor making circles and also currently causing both Red and Blue to run around as they tried to snag it.

With no words spoke, Keith pointed at the red dot. Lance raise an eyebrow as he turned his head, but forgot his suspicion as he too saw the red dot.

“Where did that come from?!” he asked.

Before Keith could reply laughter was heard. Keith and Lance both recognized the laughter instantly and sighed.

“We know it’s you, Pidge,” Keith called out as Red ran by his foot to leap on the dot. “Come on out!”

Pidge continued to laugh as she entered the room carrying some kind of tool that glowed with the same shade of red as the dot at the tip. To Keith’s shock though, she was accompanied by Shiro and Coran.

“No, Hunk?” Keith asked as he scratched his head.

“He’s in the hall holding the other lions back,” Shiro explained with a grin and shrugged. “Sorry, we couldn’t resist.”

“Where the Quiznack did you get a laser pointer?!” Lance cried as he lifted a leg to let Blue pass.

“It’s called a limindeek,” Coran stated, “but I understand it has the same principle as a laser pointer.”

“Guys,” Hunk’s voice called from the hallway. “Hate to interrupt, but I don’t think I can hold the lions back any- OH NO! LOOK OUT! LION STAMPEDE!”

Coran bolted out of the way as Shiro grabbed Pidge and yanked her to the side just as Green, Yellow and Black stormed through.

The Paladins and Coran watched as all mighty lions that formed Voltron, the greatest weapon in the universe, were all gleefully trying to jump at a dot that Pidge was now pointing at the wall with.

Hunk poked his head into the room and rubbed his neck. “Oh boy, this is getting a bit crowded.”

“Indeed,” Coran said with a nod. “We'd best end the game now, or we could risk dooming the furniture.”

Lance frowned as he looked to the lions and grasped his chin. “I'd hate to end it now, Blue looks like she’s having a ball.” He snapped his fingers. “What we need is a bigger room for them to run around in.”

“And where do we find that?” Pidge asked as she made the dot dance from side to side, to the lions’ delight.

A thought struck Keith and he raised his hand. “I've got an idea,” he said, and gave a small smile as he explained it to the others.

0808080808080808080808080808080808080808080

It had been a very relaxing and very calming day, and for some reason that caused Allura to feel cautious. She had spent the morning going over maps to determine where they should head to next.

Allura hadn’t even realized how much time had passed until she had glanced to her ticker and frowned. It was far past the usual time that Coran was supposed to fetch her to inspect the castle’s weapons systems. What was keeping him?

She ventured into the hangar, fully expecting to see him hard at work with Pidge and Hunk, but found no sign of him. Allura then thought perhaps he might be in the observatory with Shiro, but didn’t find either of them there. She became even more concerned when she checked the Paladins' rooms only to find each room deserted.

“Where did they go?” Allura commented aloud. “Surely, they wouldn’t have left the castle.”

A small squeak was heard and Allura glanced downward to see the space mice waving at her.

“Do you know where Coran is?” she asked as she kneeled. “Or the other Paladins?”

The space mice nodded and promptly scampered ahead to lead the way. Allura made certain to keep up and was a bit surprised to find that the mice had lead her to the training room.

“They’re in there?” she asked. “But it’s their day off.”

A day off was rare for the Paladins, but when things were peaceful enough to have one Coran and Shiro constantly insisted they should take it. Allura was always hesitant to agree. With Zarkon looming over them, it always seemed foolish to take even a single day away from potential training the Paladins could be doing to secure their victory. 

Yet, her father’s words on how even the mightiest of swords need a day to rest would echo in her mind and she found herself agreeing to it.

So, it was strange to even imagine the Paladins being in the training room, except Keith who seemed to live and breathe in there at times. 

A sudden yell was heard from within, a happy one that Allura was certain belonged to Lance. 

“Yahoo! That’s it! Go get it!” Lance cried.

“No, no,” Hunk’s voice called out. “We can totally win this!”

“Since when were we keeping score?!” Keith asked.

Laughter was heard and with it, Allura’s heart soared. Was it possible the Paladins had decided that training was more important than taking a day off? Were they in their training because they had become so determined to restore peace to the universe?

Allura beamed happily as she reached for the door. She had to admit, there were times she doubted her Paladins, but she always knew they were strong.

Allura pushed the door open, her mind filled with praise and thoughts on how mature everyone had gotten. How proud she was of-

All thoughts quickly left her brain as she saw the scene before her.

All five Paladins and Coran sat on the sidelines cheering as they watched their lions race around the training room like it was a playground. She was perplexed at exactly why the lions were running around until she spied a red dot being caused by a limindeek held in Hunk’s hand.

The space mice tilted their heads curiously as Allura stomped forward with her eyes twitching.

Hunk snickered as Yellow did a nosedive. “Okay, so after me it’s Keith’s turn, right?”

“I thought it was mine?” Lance argued.

“Ah, no dude, you went right before Shiro,” said Pidge.

“I still say a chart would be most helpful,” said Coran.

“What are you all doing?” Allura spoke in a brisk clear tone.

Everyone froze and sharply turned around. Hunk fumbled with the limindeek until he managed to turn it off. All five lions stopped chasing it and looked to Hunk like they were pouting.

“Oh, uh, hey, Allura,” he said with a shaky wave. “We were um..training?”

Allura tapped her fingers against her elbow. “Oh, really? Because it seemed you were using the training room as a way to waste time.” She marched over and snagged the limindeek from Hunk’s hands. 

“Just what were you doing?” she asked as she held up the tool. “Why in the world were you all tormenting our greatest hope in the universe!”

“Tormenting is an exaggeration,” Keith muttered and Shiro poked his rib to be quiet.

“It’s just a game, Princess,” Coran informed her and held his hand up. “I swear, this whole thing is quite harmless.”

“Yeah, and the lions actually get a huge kick out of it,” Lance said as Blue raced up to rub her head against his leg. “Good way for them to get exercise.”

“They’re robotic lions, they don’t need exercise,” Allura insisted and held up the limindeek. “I will be safeguarding this for the time being, which I can’t believe I have to say.”

“Ah, come on,” Pidge grumbled.

“No, buts and that’s final!” Allura declared before spinning around on her heel and stormed out of the training.

The mice quickly climbed up her dress to sit on her shoulders as she walked.

“Honestly, I expect this kind of thing from the younger Paladins, but to see Shiro AND Coran both in on it is nonsense!” She ignored the sound of fast paced feet behind her. No doubt the Paladins asking to get their ‘toy’ back.

“Sometimes,” Allura continued, “I feel like I’m the only mature person in this whole castle-”

A series of growls echoed and Allura jumped. She looked behind her and blinked stunned. All five lions were sitting perfectly like they were waiting for a treat.

“Um..what?” she asked. “Do you want something?”

Black gave a hopeful growl as she look longingly at the limindeek.

Allura’s jaw dropped as she gestured to it. “Wait, you sincerely want this? You must be joking.” She said as she held it in the air. “There are much more efficient ways to spend your time then frolicking after-”

Without meaning too, her thumb hit the button and the laser shot out. The lions jumped and growled happily as they watched the dot. On reflex, Allura swung the limindeek back and the lions bounded after it.

Allura spun around in alarm and the lions spun with her. She stumbled, but managed to regained her balance and paused as she watched the lions eyeing the now non-moving dot.

Allura raised a curious eyebrow and looked to the mice for advice. “Is it truly that entertaining?” she asked them and against her better judgement, swung the dot to the left.

Green hopped and jumped over Blue to get at the dot to which Blue gave a disgruntled growl before joining in on the running.

A giggle left Allura’s lips as she then had the dot move to the right and watched amused as yellow and Black cut Red off to get at the dot.

She giggled even more so as she began to wave the dot around and watch the Lions give chase. “Hee hee, oh my this is fun.”

“We. See. You.” a voice taunted from behind.

Allura froze and fearfully turned back around to see Pidge’s smirking face and everyone else standing behind with very smug expressions.

Allura hastily hit the off button, much to the lions disappointment, and hide the limindeek behind her back.

“I was merely testing...it turned on by itself,” she stammered. “I would never…”

Pidge held her smirk as she extended her hand out. “Hand it over, Princess.”

Allura sighed as she dropped the limindeek into Pidge’s hand.

“For the record,” Allura said as she tried to hold her head high as she blushed. “I still do not believe it is very dignified.”

“Noted,” Shiro said with a laugh, “but it is fun.”

“Hey, how about we let the mice have a turn?” Hunk asked. “I bet they’re itching to give it a try. They can finally give the lions something to chase that isn't, well, them!"

The space mice squeaked joyfully and they each gave enthused nods as Pidge handed them the limindeek..

“Alright, let’s go do this!” Lance declared as he pointed ahead. “Laser point competition here we come - aaaand our next contestants are the one, the only, the space mice! They might be tiny and eat my snacks, but I'm sure they won't come in last-”

Lance blinked, eyes crossing to try to look at what he was pretty sure was a red dot on the tip of his nose. He looked down at the suddenly grinning mice holding the limindeek, and then up a bit to see five lions ready to pounce.

"...I'm rooting for you little guys?" Lance said with a shaky smile.

The mice squeaked and Allura quietly laughed. “Alright, now I really see how this is fun.”


	7. Swimming Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The paladins find a pool and learn a few things.

The castle was huge, but Keith often forgot how big exactly until Coran would send them off to a section he’d never been into before. Today’s adventure consisted searching in the ‘lower chamber’ as he called it, although from what Keith saw from the various crates, and trunks it seemed more equivalent to the basement. 

Why Coran didn’t just call it that he would never understand. Keith sighed as he finished searching another crate and shut it.

“Are you certain Coran said those spare parts were down here, Pidge?” he asked aloud.

Pidge stepped down from the shelf she’d been checking out. “That’s what he told me, although he did say he wasn’t certain.”

“Terrific,” Keith said as he dusted his hands. “We’ve been down here for an hour now. Maybe it’s time to give up.”

Pidge looked reluctant. “Let’s search a bit more, besides maybe Green and Red have found something.”

Keith sighed. “I guess that’s possible..wait.” He glanced around with a frown. “Where are Red and Green?”

Pidge frowned as she glanced around. “Last I check they were exploring some crates.”

Growls suddenly came from behind them along with the the sound of scratching. Keith with a half amused grin, raised his hand and pointed ahead. 

“Sounds like they’re over there and getting into trouble,” he declared.

Pidge gave a chuckle as she took the lead to the back. “Like that doesn’t happen every day.” She gestured for Keith to follow. “Come on, maybe they found those parts.”

The two teens walked quietly as they traced the growls of their lions until they reached the back and paused. Red and Green were growling and scratching at something, but it wasn’t a crate.

It was a pair of large chamber doors, with an ornate pattern carved into the frame around the door. Keith half expected to see a lock, but to his surprise there was no hint of it. There was only a pair of golden handles, which Red was currently trying to chew on while Green was joyfully scratching at the door.

Pidge raised an eyebrow. “So, what do you think this place leads to?”

Keith shrugged. “Another part of the basement?”

“With those highly decorative doors, I doubt it,” Pidge said as she approached and moved Red away to turn the handle. “Let’s check it out.”

“Shouldn’t we ask Coran first?” Keith asked skeptically.

Pidge smirked. “Yeah, but it wouldn’t be as fun.”

Keith shook his head as Pidge opened and pushed the doors aside. Her eyes widened, and her jaw dropped. “Keith, you better see this.”

Keith raised an eyebrow as he looked over Pidge’s head and was struck with the same reaction. 

It was a white chamber, big enough to fit a small army. The walls seem to almost shimmer from the bright orb of light that hung above. Yet, what caught both of Pidge and Keith’s attention was the crystal clear pool placed in the middle of the chamber.

Keith and Pidge continued to stare stunned as Green scampered inside to poke her paw into the water, while Red snarled and stuck close to Keith.

“So,” Pidge said slowly as she turned back to Keith. “Who wants to tell Lance?”

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“All right, Girl,” Lance said as he tossed the ball. “See if you can catch this one!”

He tossed the ball high up in the air. Blue growled playfully before leaping high, snatching the ball in her jaws and performing a backflip as she landed back on the ground.

Lance laughed as Blue raced over to his lap. “Ha! Bet Yellow can’t be that, Hunk.”

Hunk rolled his eyes from his chair as Yellow watched him take the ball. “Oh, please, my lion can do that with her tail tied behind her back.”

Yellow glanced up looking concerned.

“No, Yellow, we’re not doing that, it’s just tough talk,” Hunk said to reassure her.

Coran glanced up from his report with a raised eyebrow. “You know, somehow I don’t think Shiro would count a ‘ball catching competition’ as the proper training he assigned to you for today.”

“Hey, this is totally training,” Lance said as he threw the ball for Blue again. “We’re testing out the Lions’ agility. What if we got attacked inside the castle again?”

“Besides,” Hunk said as he took his own ball for Yellow to chase. “We did the other stuff Shiro asked us to do. What else are we supposed to do while he and Allura are stuck in that meeting?” 

Lance glanced to his watch. “On that note, it’s been three hours. How much longer are they going to be?”

“This isn’t just any meeting,” Coran said as he leaned over the couch. “This is a diplomatic meeting of convincing the Yishlons of forming an alliance with us.”

Hunk shrugged. “So? It didn’t take this long to form alliances with other planets.”

“Yes,” Coran said with a nod, “but the Yishions in particular are quite..” He twirled his mustache as he thought of the right word. “Difficult to please and they are very strict on manners-”

“They’re a bunch of snobs aren’t they?” Lance replied as Blue brought the ball back to throw.

“Oh, no, not all of them,” Coran replied. “The villagers are quite charming..but the nobles of the planet who we have to deal with.” He coughed into his hand. “Well..yes, they’re a bit of an annoyance.”

“Yay,” Hunk said with an unenthusiastic fist in the air. 

The door the opened as Pidge and Keith entered the room with their lions.

“Ah, there you two are,” Coran said with a grin. “Any luck finding those spare parts?”

“No,” Keith said slowly as he leaned against the couch and exchanged a glance with Pidge, “but we found..something.”

Pidge coughed as she approached the older Altean. “Coran, why didn’t you tell us we had a swimming pool in the basement?”

The ball dropped from Lance’s hand and rolled aimlessly on the floor as he whirled around in his seat. “Wait, what?!”

“We found this huge pool in the basement,” Keith explained as he extended his arms for emphasis. “I swear, it makes the pool at the Garrison look like a pond.”

Hunk’s jaw dropped and looked to Coran. “Why didn’t you ever tell us this?”

Coran grasped his chin in thought and then suddenly snapped his fingers. 

“Oh, yes, the water bathing chamber,” he declared with a chuckle. “I completely forgot about that place!” 

“How do you forget you have a swimming pool?!” Lance exclaimed. “Dude, I’ve been dying to have a swim for months?!”

“Well, being frozen for ten thousand years can do some weird things to your memory,” Coran explained. “Besides, i t’s not a ‘swimming’ pool. It’s a bathing area that was privately used as a place of relaxation and play for the royal family.”

Hunk raised an eyebrow. “Minus the royal part, you just described what a swimming pool is.”

Coran grasped his chin. “Hmm...I suppose I did, didn’t I?”

Lance leaped to his feet as Blue climbed up to his shoulder. “Well, what are we standing around for? Let’s go for a swim!”

“Now, hold on!” Coran said as he raised a hand. “While I am certain Princess Allura won’t mind you lot using it, it’s best we wait for both her and Shiro to return to properly ask for permission.” He folded his arms. “Not to mention to inspect the water and make certain it’s clean to use. It has been ten thousand years since the pool has been used.”

“It looked pretty clean to me,” Pidge said frankly. “I’m seen glass more cloudy than that.”

“Nevertheless,” Coran continued with a stern tone. “We need to be certain-”

A sharp beep from his tablet cut him off. Without wasting a beat, Coran lifted the tablet and hit the button. Allura’s face appeared on the small screen, and judging from the lines under her eyes she was very tired.

Coran raised an eyebrow. “Oh, dear, I know that look,” he stated as the others stared over his shoulder. “Is something the matter, Princess?”

Allura sighed. “Nothing urgent, but Coran would you please join me? I am requiring some back up to ease tensions.”

“Ease tensions?” Hunk asked. “You and Shiro in trouble?”

Allura shook her head. “No, but the leader invited Shiro to play a game and Shiro won.”

“Oookay,” Pidge asked. “What’s so wrong about that?”

Allura sighed. “I forgot to tell Shiro that when Yishions challenge off worlders, it’s considered rude for the off worlders to win.”

Keith folded his arm as he frown. “That..makes no sense what so ever. How is it rude if he challenged Shiro?”

“I’m in full agreement with you there, but that is the tradition. To the Yishions it is a sign of trust,” Allura continued. “I’ve tried to explained it was a simple mistake, but we’re having a difficult time to move past it-”

“SIR! For the last time, I said I was sorry!” Shiro’s voice echoed from the background of the video screen.

“Sorry does not grant me the time I lost playing you!” a male voice shouted back.

“THEN WHY ON EARTH DID YOU CHALLENGE ME IN THE FIRST PLACE?!” Shiro argued back

Allura’s eyes twitched slightly. “Coran, if you wouldn’t mind-”

“Say, no more, Princess,” Coran said with a nod. “I’ll be there to join you shortly.”

“Thank you,” Allura said before she signed off and the screen went blank.

“Right then,” Coran said as he set the tablet aside. “Wish me luck. Hopefully, we will have this sorted out in a few tics.”

“But what about the pool?” Lance said with his eyes full of hope.

“As I said that will be discuss once the Princess and Shiro have returned,” Coran said as he exited the room. “Till then, you all just stay put, and keep out of trouble.”

The young paladins quietly watched Coran leave and shut the door behind him. In perfect unison, all the lions in the room turned their heads towards their paladins and had their full attention.

Lance clapped his hands and turned around to the others. “Right...sssooo, where is this swimming pool exactly?”

Keith sighed. He knew this was what was going to happen and Red gave a growl in agreement. “Lance, Coran said we had to wait.”

Lance rolled his eyes. “Dude, it has been months since I got to swim in something! I have been dying here.”

Hunk raised a hand. “Actually, you did take a swim on Diakron Seven?”

“That was slime and it took me three days to wash all of that off! It doesn’t count!” Lance said with a shiver. 

“I’m with Lance,” Pidge voiced with her arms folded. “I think Coran is being too paranoid. The water looked fine to me, and we’ve earned it.”

Hunk have a soft uneasy chuckle. “I can’t deny that a regular old swim would feel good.”

Keith sighed as he tucked his hands into his pockets. “Fine, knock yourselves out. I’m heading to my room.”

However, to his and Red’s annoyance, Lance caught his arm. “No way! You’re coming with us!”

Keith raised an eyebrow. “Why exactly?”

“Because we need to embrace this as a potential team bonding experience!” Lance exclaimed as Blue lifted one of her paws in agreement.

Keith stared doubtfully and then it clicked. “You just want to make certain I don’t go call Shiro and blab on you.”

Lance huffed. “Fine, maybe a bit of that too, but come on don’t be such a stick in the mud.”

“Yeah, Keith, it’s just a swim,” Pidge said as she started to drag Keith along with Lance. “Relax, it will be fun.”

_Maybe for you guys, since you can actually swim,_ Keith thought darkly, but found unable to escape his captors hold on him.

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No one had any swimsuits on hand, and if there were spare Altean swimsuits they had no sweet clue where to find them. So, in the end, Hunk and Lance decided to dive in shorts from clothing they had bought from a market a few days ago. Pidge stuck with with an extra shirt and pants she usually saved for dirty work on the lions for swimming.

Keith had removed his precious red jacket and shoes, and that was about it. He quietly let his legs hang over the sides and let his feet wade in the water as he watched the others and Red sat in his lap for a nap.

Lance sprang his head out of the water with Blue doing the same in perfect sync. 

“THIS is what I needed,” Lance exclaimed as he lay on his back and let Blue paddle around him. “Best therapy ever.”

Pidge laughed as she swam up to the edge to join where Green had been watching her and scratched under her chin. “I don’t think I’ve seen you this relax in a while.”

“That’s because Lance is secretly a merman and practically lives in the water,” Hunk teased as he stood near Keith with towels in his hands. “When we were kids, his mother had to bribe him to get him out of the pool.”

Keith gave a small chuckle. “I can easily imagine that.”

“You mock,” Lance said as he flipped back around. “But all that pool time has made me one of the best swimmers you guys will ever know.”

Hunk gave a smirk. “Swimmer yes,” he said as he dramatically tossed the towels to the side. “But you know what I’m the best yet.”

Lance sharply turned and eyes widened. “Hunk, no!”  
“CANNONBALL!” Hunk cried as he jumped up, curled into a ball and dived into the water causing a huge splash.

Keith shielded himself with his arm as Red dove behind him for cover from the water. Yellow roared in encouragement as Green tried to catch the water droplets that fell. Pidge and Lance both laughed as they were splashed by the water.

“No fair!” Pidge called out as she shook off the water. “I’m so getting you for that!”

Hunk sprang out of the water grinning with pride. “That my friends is how you do a proper canonball.”

“And it’s very well done,” Lance replied as Blue climbed up to his shoulders. “But after that spectacle, I feel the need to show you how to do a proper dive.”

Pidge scoffed. “Oh, please, I bet I could beat you in that. I was the top of my swimming class.”

“Ooh, sounds like we have a challenge here,” Hunk teased.

“And it’s one I’m not going to lose,” Lance declared as he climbed out of the pool and Blue hopped back onto dry land and gave herself a shake.

Red growl as the water droplets almost hit her.

Pidge climbed out and patted Green as she looked over to Keith. “You joining us on this, Keith?” she asked.

Keith glanced to the pool and shook his head. “No, thanks,” he said as he rose to his feet and shook off the water. “Truthfully, I think I got wet enough for one day. I’m going to head back to my room.”

Lance blinked in shock. “Really? But you’ve barely gotten your pinky toes wet.”

Keith shrugged. “Swimming just isn’t my thing,” he said and pointed to Red who hissed at the pool. “And I’m thinking Red doesn’t care for it either. So, I’m done.”

“Aw, come on, Keith,” Pidge said as moved up to him. “You should at least get your head under the water. It’s fun. Loosen up a bit.”

Keith shook his head. “I got my own way of loosening up,” he said as he began to walk away. “I’m going to read for awhile and then some sword practice.”

“Suit, yourself,” Lance said with a shrug.

However, for Pidge it wasn’t good enough. She grinned as she silently crept up behind Keith, and then swiftly shoved him.

Keith yelped in shock as he fell and landed into the pool. Hunk and Lance shield their faces as he splash of water hit them. Red roared in alarm as she stared into the pool.

Pidge laughed gleefully as Hunk narrowed his eyes and swam to the edge. “Pidge, not cool. Keith didn’t want to swim.”

“Oh, come on,” she said as she continued to smirk. “I use to do that to Matt all the time.”

Hunk kept his frown. “Sure, but Keith isn’t Matt. He’s-”

“Guys,” Lance cut in and pointed to where Keith landed. “He hasn’t come up yet.”

The teens froze and stared in horror. Red fidgeted as she kept pacing back and forth on the edge of the pool.

“Keith can swim, right?” Hunk said and looked fearfully to Lance. “Right?”

Lance cursed as he ran and dived into the water with Blue and Red diving seconds in after him.

Pidge and Hunk held their breath and only dared to breathe when Lance emerged with Keith in his arms. Red and Blue tucked their heads under Keith’s arms as he coughed and gasped for air.

“Take it easy, man,” Lance said as he steered them towards the edge. “We got ya.”

“Thanks,” Keith gasped as he clung to Lance.

Hunk scrambled out of the pool and instantly turned around to pull Keith out. “You okay?”

“I..I think so,” Keith said as he sat back and coughed. 

Red mewed as she wrapped her tail around him. Blue shook the water off as she waited for Lance to climb out and got him a towel.

“Keith..I..I’m so sorry,” Pidge stammered. “WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL US YOU COULDN’T SWIM?!”

Keith leaned on his knees and didn’t seem to mind Yellow and Green moving in closer to inspect him. “It just...didn’t come up.”

“Not come up?!” Pidge exclaimed. “We’re at a pool-”

“Sorry, Pidge, but we’ll have to save that for later,” Lance said as he dried himself off and kneeled to Keith. “We need to get Keith upstairs and get the medical scanners to check him over.”

Keith shook his head as he rubbed his throat. “Don’t bother, I’m fine, really-”

“No way,” Lance cut in sharply with a firm tone as he pulled Keith to his feet. “You could have leftover water in your lungs, which could literally kill you.” He shook a finger. “It’s not uncommon for people to suffocate on land after almost drowning in water.”

Keith blinked surprised. “How do you know that?”

“Lance has lifeguard training,” Hunk replied. “He knows what he’s talking about here. Not to mention, it would make me feel better. You almost drowned!”

“What’s this about drowning?”

The group turned around to see both Shiro and Black standing near the doorway. His foot was tapping, his arms were folded and his eyebrow was raised. These were the classic Shiro signs of him being not happy.

“Shiro…,” Pidge said slowly. “You’re back early.”

“Allura and Coran managed to cool things down, so I wasn’t needed anymore,” he said as he stepped forward and looked Keith over. “So, what happened?”

The group winced. They were so busted.

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Shiro finished reading over the scan report and sighed in relief. “According to the scanners, you should be fine,” he said as he sat on the medical bed next to Keith. “But we’re keeping a close eye on you for the next 24 hours to be sure.”

Keith nodded as he wrapped his arm around Red. She hadn’t dared to leave his side for a second as Shiro and the others checked him over. Red even refused to leave Keith alone to get dressed in dry clothes.

_She’s going to be clingy the next few days,_ Keith thought. Although, he strangely didn’t mind that. It was comforting to feel her next to him.

“So, we’re all okay, then?” Hunk asked.

Shiro sighed. “I didn’t say that.” He narrowed his eyes. “I understand you guys were excited to find that pool, but you should have waited for Allura, Coran and I before you decided to go into it.”

Lance rolled his eyes. “Shiro, we’re not little kids. We can take care of ourselves.”

“I know, but you went swimming before we had a chance to make certain it was clean,” Shiro explained as he folded his arms. 

“It looked fine to me,” Pidge said softly.

“Perhaps, but for all we know there could be organisms in there that may not be harmful to Alteans, but are for humans,” Shiro stated firmly. “We’re still learning about the castle, it was built for Alteans not us.”

Lance winced and raised a finger. “Okay, that’s a fair point.”

“And...Keith did almost drown,” Hunk muttered softly and Yellow growled in agreement.

Pidge winced at the comment and reached over to scratch Green’s ears.

Lance rubbed his neck. “I’m sorry, Shiro and..I should take most of the blame here. I was the most desperate to swim in the pool.”

“Naw, dude, it was all us,” Hunk said sadly. “We’re really sorry, Shiro.”

Shiro gave a half smile. “I know you are, and thus I’m making you guys do an extra hour of drill practice for the next three days. Understood?”

“Yeah,” the group said in unison along with their lions.

“Sssooo, can we go now?” Lance asked.

“Yes,” Shiro said.

Pidge sighed and rose, but suddenly found herself blocked by Black.

“Except you, Pidge,” Shiro explained, “and Keith too. I’m not quite down with you two yet.”

Hunk patted Pidge’s shoulder before he exited the room with Lance, Yellow and Blue. Pidge sat back down and let Green settle into her lap.

“Okay, Pidge,” Shiro said gently. “I believe you got something to say to Keith.”

Pidge removed her glasses and looked up. “Keith...I’m so sorry. It was just a joke! Matt and I use to play a game of it when we were kids. I swear, that last thing I would want to do is-”

“I know, Pidge,” Keith said as he raised a hand. “It’s okay, you didn’t mean any harm.”

“While that’s true, that doesn’t make it okay,” Shiro said. I know you did it with Matt, but that’s different. You knew for certain he could swim, but you didn’t with Keith. Plus, he clearly said ‘No’ and you should have respected that.”

Pidge gave a nod.

“However,” Shiro said as both he and Black turned their gaze to Keith. “Both of you made mistakes here.”

Keith blinked in confusion along with Red. “What do you mean?”

Shiro patted his shoulder. “I know it embarrses you to admit you can’t swim,” he said, “but we’re a team. We got to be honest with our strengths and weaknesses. You should have just told them from the start.”

“Wait, Shiro,” Pidge said as he placed her glasses back on. “It’s not Keith’s fault at all. I should have-”

Keith shook his head. “No, Shiro’s right. I should have just straight up explained it to you guys.” He sighed. “I just...don’t like admitting I can’t do something.”

“Well, with swimming we’re going to change that,” Shiro said with a grin. “I know just how to do it.”

Keith winced and sighed. “Let me guess, you’re going to teach me how to swim.”

“Yes, but I’m not going to be the teacher,” Shiro said. “And Pidge you’re going to learn something here too.”

Keith frowned and then it suddenly struck him what Shiro was saying. “Wait..you’re not suggesting what I think you’re suggesting?”

Shiro said nothing as he merely gave a grin and Black growled in approval.

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“So, how long do you think we will be banned from that pool?” Lance asked as Blue poked her head out of Lance’s hood and poked him for pats.

“Don’t know,” Hunk said as he stretched out on Lance’s bed and Yellow joined him. “But I can’t exactly blame Shiro if we’re banned for like a month.”

“I know,” Lance said sadly as he complied to Blue’s demand and stroked her ears. “But it sucks that I FINALLY found a possible place to swim and it got ruined so fast.”

“Might not be as ruined as you thought,” Keith said as he entered with Red, along with PIdge and Green. 

Hunk immediately sat up and looked at them with a frown. “How did it go?” he asked.

“Shiro isn’t out right banning us,” Pidge said as she took a seat next to Lance. “But he’s made it clear we got to tell him when we’re in the pool from now on.”

Lance’s shoulders relaxed slightly. “Well, that’s not so bad.” The pool may not be the same as swimming in the ocean back home, but Lance was happy with what he could find.

“With that said, we’re forbidden from going in until Coran does a scan on it and us to make certain we didn’t take in anything harmful,” Pidge said as Green started to poke Yellow on the bed to play.

“How long will that take?” Lance said.

“A few days,” Keith said as he sat directly in front of Lance. “Although, Shiro imagines Allura is going to give us a good lecture too.”

“Yeah, saw that one coming a mile away,” Lance said as he rubbed his neck.

Keith then fidgeted and chewed his bottom lip as Red climbed into his lap.

“Listen, Lance, I know I’m not the best at saying this sometimes,” he said as he looked up. “But thanks for saving me.”

Lance paused, slightly surprised by the sudden gratitude and gave a shrug. “It’s no biggie.”

“No, it is,” Keith said as he slumped over Red to looked at him directly. “I owe you.”

Lance gave him a hard look and smirked as Blue purred happily. “Ooh, the great Keith owes me a favor, I like the sound of that.”

“Lance,” Hunk warned, but Lance quieted him with his hand.

“But as much as I wish I could take advantage of that,” Lance replied and turned his head away from him. “You can thank me back by learning how to swim. I would appreciate not having a repeat performance of that.”

Keith and Pidge exchanged a look and coughed. “Funny you should mention that,” Keith replied and ran a hand through his hair. “I’ve been ordered by Shiro to take swimming lessons from you.”

Lance’s eyes widened and he turned to look back at him. “Really?”

“Yeah,” Pidge replied, “and on that note I’ve been ordered to learn how to be a lifeguard from you too.”

“Oh, can I get in on this?” Hunk asked as he raised a hand. “Frankly, it’s something I’ve been meaning you to teach me for a long time.”

Lance looked to them and slowly a wide cheesy grin spread across his face. “Well, no way I can say no to that.” He snapped his fingers and pointed at them. “Alright, as soon as the pool is free again, you three are going to be students of Professor Fabulous Lance!”

“Do we HAVE to call you ‘Professor’?” Pidge asked with a sour expression.

“Yes, yes, you do,” Shiro said as he poked his head into the room. “If anything, that will make certain you don’t forget it easily.”

“I was afraid you say that,” Keith muttered under his breath and wonder if maybe drowning would have been better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those wondering, yes, it is possible for someone to die on land after almost drowning. It's called 'Dry Drowning' http://www.parents.com/kids/safety/outdoor/dry-drowning/ 
> 
> Also, I do plan on writing a follow up to this, I'm just brainstorming ideas for the actual swimming lessons.


	8. Swimming Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith needs swimming lessons, and Lance is willing to teach.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, this took so long to write, but it's been a busy month. So, here is the swimming lessons I've promised!

Shiro patted Black’s head as he read over the tablet and walked down the hall. “So, I’m thinking the guys will be ready to start the next level of the gladiator,” he said.

“I agree,” Coran said as he twirled his moustache, “but I would advise some solo practice for Pidge. She still needs to improve her hand to hand combat.”

Black growled in agreement. “Noted,” Shiro said. “With that said, I should check and see-”

“RED, COME ON!” Keith cried. “YOU’RE BEING RIDICULOUS!"

Coran and Shiro both jumped as they spotted Keith’s head poking out of his room as he clung to the door frame like he was fighting a monster.

Two sets of growls could be heard from within and Shiro was certain one of them belonged to the Red Paladin.

“Uh, Buddy,” Shiro said as he tucked the tablet away. “What are you doing?”

Coran checked the time. “And correct me if I’m mistaken, but shouldn’t you be at the bathing chamber getting that promised swimming lesson?”

Keith panted as he leaned against the doorway. “I’ve been trying to for the last ten minutes.”

Shiro raised an eyebrow. “So, what’s stopping you?”

“Take a look,” Keith said as he gestured to the inside with his thumb.

Shiro and Coran exchanged puzzled expression, but when they did as Keith asked it only caused more questions.

Red Lion was growling madly as she kept a tight hold on Keith’s pants and yanked on them hard.

“What is she doing?” Shiro asked as she pointed and Black moved in for an inspection.

Keith ran a hand through his hair. “Red, doesn’t want me in the pool again.”

Shiro frowned, but then it struck him. “Ah,” he said slowly as his brain put the pieces together. “I take it she’s afraid you’re going to almost drown again?”

“Pretty much,” Keith said as he looked to his lion. “I keep telling her that I need to go to prevent it from happening, but she won’t listen.”

“Hmm,” Coran said thoughtfully. “Red Lion was always a stubborn one when it came to her paladin’s safety.” He shook a finger. “I remember this one time in the Kracken Sector the Red Paladin and I-”

“Coran, no offense,” Keith said with a pleading look, “but could you tell me that story later when I don’t have a lion attached to my leg?”

Red gave another fierce growl.

“Ah, of course,” Coran said as he cleared his throat. “Fear not, I know exactly how to handle this.” He cracked his knuckles and flexed his fingers. “I believe this calls for an ancient Altean method.”

Keith and Shiro exchanged quizzed looks as Red refuse to release her hold on Keith’s pants and Black poked her with her front paw.

“Oh, yeah?” Shiro asked as he folded his arms. “What’s that?”

Coran cleared his throat and in a blink of an eye gasped as he pointed behind Keith.

“LOOK! IT’S ZARKON!” he exclaimed.

Red gave a confused growl and let go of Keith to glance behind her. Realizing the plan, Keith immediately took off like lightening.

“Thanks, Coran!” he cried as he zoomed past him and Shiro.

Red jumped and roared in frustration as she chased after her paladin, while making certain to send death glares in Coran’s direction.

Shiro raised an eyebrow and gave Coran an unimpressed look. “Ancient Altean method?”

Coran was unfazed as he tucked his hands behind his back. “You scoff, but I’ll have to know the great Tulack War was ended thanks to that.”

Shiro gave a sigh, silently wishing that it was that easy to defeat Zarkon himself.

08080808080808080808080808080

Lance dunked his toes into the pool and glanced to his watch again before leaning back.

“Where is he?” he muttered as Blue rested her head in his lap. “Keith should have been here 15 minutes ago.”

“Do you think he’s stalling?” Hunk asked as he continued to dingle his bandana for Yellow to bat at with her paws.

“Shiro told him he had to take swimming lessons from Lance,” Pidge stated as she scratched Green’s head. “He’s the type that rather get something like that over with.”

Lance growled as he pulled his feet out of the pool. “That’s it, he has one more minute and if he doesn’t show I’m sending Blue to drag him-”

“I’M HERE!” Keith cried as he huffed and leaned against the doorway. “Sorry...I’m late.”

Lance raised an eyebrow as Blue tilted her head. “Dude, what took you so long?”

Pidge frowned as Green sat up straight. “And why do you sound like you just ran a marathon?”

Keith glanced behind him like he was expecting something before he entered. “Sorry, I had to run while Shiro and Coran tried to distract her.”

“Her?” Hunk asked as he let Yellow catch the bandana. “You mean Allura?” 

Keith shook his head. “No, I mean-”

A fierce growl cut him off as the sound of racing feet echoed throughout the chamber. Within seconds, Red bounded through the doorway, skidded to a halt before standing in front of Keith growling.

Keith let out a deep groan as Shiro appeared with both Coran and Black close behind him.

“I assume that ancient Atlean method won’t work twice,” Shiro said as he wiped away sweat from his forehead. 

“Alas, it is only proven to be a one use method,” Coran sadly replied.

“Okay, what’s going on?” Hunk asked as he stood.

“Red doesn’t want me in the water,” Keith explained as he tried to get past her and Red blocked him.

Hunk frowned, but then hit his fist into his palm. “Ah, you mean she doesn’t want to risk you drowning again.”

“Basically,” Keith said as Red tugged at his pants to drag him out of the chamber.

“But the whole point of this is for you to learn how to swim so that doesn’t happen,” Lance argued.

“Yes, well we all know that,” Coran added, “but I’m afraid Red doesn’t care much for that fact.”

Shiro sighed as Black entered and she looked up to him. “That’s it, time to pull rank,” Shiro muttered as he kneeled and patted Black. “Black, mind giving Keith a hand here?”

Black growled what sounded like a ‘yes’ and then headed towards Red and Keith. She gave a fierce growled that caused Red to jump and was enough of a distraction for Keith to sneak away. Red prepared to chase after him, but Black zoomed around and pinned her to the ground.

Red gave protest snarls, but Black remained firm and didn’t budge an inch as she sat on her.

“Huh,” Lance said thoughtfully as he moved closer and poked Red who responded with a growl. “Wish we could do that with Keith.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Keith said as he stepped into the small changing room. Within a couple of minutes, Keith appeared wearing only a pair of shorts. “We going to do this, Lance?”

Lance grinned and cupped a hand around his ear. “What’s that? Who is this ‘Lance’ you are referring to?”

Keith sighed and looked to Shiro for assistance, but he only gave a shrug. 

Keith sighed and shook his head. “We going to do this...Professor Lance?”

“Professor Fabulous Lance!” Lance added.

Keith shot a glare. “Fine, ‘Professor Fabulous Lance’! Happy?”

Lance smirked and Blue looked equally as pleased as she swished her tail. “Any chance I can get a recording of that?”

“Don’t push your luck,” Shiro laughed as he took a seat on the floor. 

“Fine,” Lance said with a grin as he climbed into the pool and Blue jumped in. “Get in, Keith.”

Keith stared at the water and took a deep breath to settle his nerves.

“We’re at the shallow end,” Pidge offered from her seat next to Shiro and Hunk. “So, you can’t drown here….at least it’s not likely.”

“Thanks...I think,” Keith said as he hopped over the side and climbed into the water. “So, what do we do?”

“Get your face use to being under water,” Lance instructed and pointed to the water as Blue swam around them in a circle. “So, put your face in, then tilt it to the side when you need a breath of air and then turn it back in the water.”

Keith blinked. “Seriously?” The idea sounded a bit silly.

“Dude, who is the expert here and the the one that saved your butt from drowning?” Lance retorted.

“Alright, I won’t argue,” Keith replied and did as Lance instructed. At first, he felt awkward doing it, but after a few attempts he began to understand Lance’s intention as he got use to the sensation. He would be less likely to panic if he was use to the water if he ever found himself submerged in it again.

“Alright, good,” Lance said as he patted him on the shoulder and placed his fingers in his mouth to give a sharp whistle. 

Blue’s head sprung out of the water and she paddled all the way to Lance’s side. 

“Next thing you need to learn is how to float on your back,” Lance instructed and laid back in the water to show Keith. “Floating can differ with people, but generally humans can float if you stretch out like this. The important thing is for you to just chill and relax.”

Keith carefully watched Lance as the boy seemed to glide along like he was a merman. No wonder Blue picked him. If the Blue Lion’s element was water, Lance was a perfect candidate for it. 

Lance then stood back up and pointed to Keith. “You’re turn, Bro.”

Keith wince a bit as he rubbed his neck. “Um...I know you say it’s easy, but I’m fairly certain I’ll sink.”

He had already experience going under the water once and he wasn’t thrilled with the prospect of doing it again.

“You may sink, but I’ll be standing beside you,” Lance retorted. “So, worse case, I can drag you back up and don’t forget we’re in the shallow end, so you can stand up.”

_Right, forgot about that part,_ Keith thought as he took a breath. _I need to do this._

He heard Red give a growl of protest from underneath Black as he leaned back in the water. Lance grabbed his shoulders as Keith spread out his body. After a moment, Lance let go and to Keith’s astonishment, he was still floating.

“Huh,” Keith muttered as he let himself drift. “Not as hard as I thought it was.”

“See what happens when you listen to me?” Lance commented as he hovered over him.

“Still doesn’t mean your idea of us having a theme song is a good idea,” Keith retorted as he reached out and poked Lane’s side.

“It’s a genius idea and you know it,” Lance replied as he crossed back arms. “Now get back up, I want to show you how to kick next.”

Keith nodded and Lance steadied him as let his feet touch the ground again.

“Doing great, Buddy,” Shiro called out and caused Keith to blush slightly.

“So, next lesson, you need to practice how to kick in the water,” Lance said as he patted Blue. “Normally, I would give you a swimming board to practice on, but since we don’t have those, Blue here has volunteered.”

Blue gave a growl and Keith blinked dumbfound. “You want me to use your lion...as a paddle board?”

“Yes,” Lance said, “also Hunk thought you might be more comfortable grabbing onto something that would ensure you wouldn’t drown with it.”

Keith raised an eyebrow and glanced back to Hunk.

“Tell me I’m wrong!” Hunk called out as Yellow growled in agreement. 

“You’re not,” Keith replied with a sigh as he turned back. “How do I do this?”

“I’m going to show you,” Lance stated as Blue spun around and offered her back to him. He then kneeled and grabbed onto Blue’s back as he proceeded to start kicking. After a minute or so, Lance stopped and pointed to Keith.

“Your turn,” Lance said as Blue swam over to Keith. “And remember to tilt your head to the side so you can practice taking breaths.”

Keith nodded as Blue turned around and gave a playful growl to which Keith replied by gripping onto her back.

Louder growls of protest could be heard from the sidelines.

“I believe Red is a bit jealous at the moment,” Coran called, “but don’t worry, we got her.”

Keith sighed as he lowered himself in the water and used Blue to let himself float. He then began to kick and tried to tilt his head to the side when he needed a mouthful of air like Lance instructed.

Keith heard Red give more protest growls, but trusted the others to hold her back as he continued to practice. After a moment, he heard Lance tell him to stop and he did.

“You’re doing good,” Lance replied as he stepped back. “Next, I want to see if you can swim while moving your arms.” He rotated his arms in a circular motion. “Like this, idea is that with the kicking you should be able to move fast in the water.”

“Okay,” Keith said, “and I’m assuming I’m not holding on to Blue for this.”

“No, unless you got a third arm I don’t know about,” Lance retorted.

Keith smirked and then positioned himself as he eased back into the water. He placed his face into the water and began to move his arms...or he would have if a loud roar hadn’t caught him off guard.

Yells were heard, along with some curse words that was followed by a huge splash. Keith and Lance both used their arms to shield themselves from the water. Keith shook off the water and saw through the drips Red swimming frantically to him.

Keith sighed as he stood, waited and scooped Red up in his arms before she got chance to drag him out.

“Thought you were keeping an eye on her!” Keith cried out.

“We were!” Coran called out, “but I’m afraid the moment you put your face under she overpowered Black and broke free.”

Keith raised an eyebrow as he glanced down to Red. “I don’t know if I should be annoyed or proud that you managed to do that.”

Red gave no reply besides a disgruntled growl as both Lance and Blue shook their heads.

0808080808080808080808080808080808080

After much coaxing, and Blue somehow managing to convince Red that Keith was not going to drown, Keith got some actual swimming practice. He was hardly a master, but Lance insisted as long as Keith practiced for a few more days he would know it by instinct in no time.

Keith had to agree he looked forward to not stare at the water and not have the sense of dread that came along with it.

Lance then moved onto the lessons for Hunk and Pidge. Keith had half expected for Shiro and Coran to leave when they had climbed out of the pool, but they stayed. He was even more surprised when Allura appeared.

“I’m rather curious on Earth’s techniques on surviving in water,” she admitted as she took a seat next to Shiro. “Hope you don’t mind if I watch.”

“Of course not, Princess,” Lance said as he grinned and posed. “If you want, I could even demonstrate and rescue you from drowning.”

Allura raised an eyebrow as she frowned. “I’ll pass.”

Lance gave a shrug. “Alright, you’re loss then.” 

“So, what exactly are we doing?” Hunk asked as Yellow crawled into his lap.

“I figured I show you guys some CPR,” Lance replied.

“C...P...What?” asked Coran with a raised eyebrow.

“It’s an abbreviation for ‘cardiopulmonary resuscitation’,” Pidge explained as she leaned on her hands. “It’s basically a life saving technique if someone stops breathing or their heart stops.”

“Ah, yes, of course,” Coran said as he grasped his chin. “We had a similar technique on Altea. Tell me does yours involve shocking slugs too?”

“Uh….no,” Lance said dryly, “but I am going to need a volunteer to pretend to be a victim to give mouth to mouth to.” He gave a sly glance to Allura. “Princess, want to be my drowned victim?”

“Still passing,” Allura said with a confirmed nod.

Lance shrugged. “Can’t blame me for trying.” He looked around the group. “Since, Keith, Pidge and Hunk are learning that leaves Shiro and Coran-”

Blue gave a growl as she pawed his leg.

“Yes, there is you,” Lance said as he patted her head. “But I think a more human body would be a better idea here.”

“I’ll do it,” Coran said as he stood. “You got me curious about this and I happen to have excellent acting skills.”

Lance frowned, but gave a shrug as he sat back down. “Yeah, sure. Just lay here, Coran, and pretend to be unconscious.”

“Will do!” Coran said as he moved and stretched out on the floor. Once Coran had his eyes shut, Lance cleared his throat.

“Right, first thing you got to make sure is that there’s nothing-”

Coran gave a gasp. “Hurry! I can’t breathe!”

Lance jumped slightly, but tried to keep focus. “So, uh, you need to inspect-”

“The world is getting dizzy!” Coran exclaimed as he shifted from side to side like he was twitching.

“Um…” Lance said as the group started to snicker.

“The light is fading!” Coran continued. “Everything is going black!”

“Coran, you do know what ‘unconscious’ means right?” Lance asked, annoyed as Blue tilted her head.

“Goodbye, cruel universe!” Coran said mournfully as he reached out with his arm to the sky only for it to drop lifelessly to the side like a stone.

Blue and Green growled as they both poked at Coran’s head to see if he was alive. 

“Well...that was dramatic,” Keith commented as Red blinked in confusion.

“And hilarious,” Pidge added as she struggled to hold in her laughter. “Don’t forget hilarious.”

Lance sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “On second thought, Blue, you’re up.”

Blue’s head perked up as she let loose a growl.

“What? Why?” Coran said as he sat up with his arms crossed. “I believed I took on the role of a ‘drowned person’ perfectly.”

“Yes, you did that’s the problem,” Lance retorted.

The others laughed as Coran continued to stare on in confusion.

080808080808080808080808080808080

The rest of the lessons passed on with little trouble, even if Coran argued he was a perfect drowned victim. Hunk, Keith, Pidge and even Allura listen carefully as Lance demonstrated first aid and how to read vital signs. By the end of it, Shiro patted Lance on the shoulder and praised him for a job well done.

Lance gave a smile as Blue rubbed her head against his leg. It felt good to be in charge, although a small part of him worried if he taught well enough for the group to understand. He lagged behind as the others left, debating if he and Blue should snag a quick swim in the pool, but noticed Keith and Red had remained.

“I didn’t plan on teaching you more until tomorrow,” Lance stated.

He could have gotten through all the lessons in one day, but Lance felt it was better to take it slow with Keith to ensure he got it. He refused to make any mistakes when it came to water safety.

“Yeah, I know,” Keith muttered as he scooped Red up in his arms. “I..just...wanted to...say thanks...for the lessons and stuff.”

Lance rolled his eyes. “You already thanked me before, Dude.”

“I know,” Keith said with a slight blush, “but..you’re a good teacher and just had to say it.”

Lance felt close to blushing, but swiftly turned his head to the side so Keith wouldn’t see. “Well, of course I am. I am the swimming master after all!”

Keith chuckled. “Yeah, yeah,” he said and then chewed his bottom lip. “With that said...do you want me to give you sword fighting lessons?”

Lance’s blush vanished as he glanced back surprised as did Blue at the same time. “Swordfighting?”

“To repay you,” Keith said as he looked tempted to bury his face in Red as he muttered. “I’m..probably not a great teacher, but..I thought it might be worth trying?”

Lance raised an eyebrow as he crossed his arms in thought. He never had much interest in learning how to use a sword...but, then again, it could be a handy skill to have if Lance wasn’t able to use his blaster for some reason.

He glanced to Blue for her opinion. She gave a firm growl and butted her head against Lance’s leg like she was pushing him towards Keith. Lance gave a small smile as he raised his head.

“Yeah...okay, sure,” Lance said as he approached him. “After I’m certain I got you to master swimming, you teach me to use a sword.”

Keith raised his head and blinked stunned. Had he thought Lance wouldn’t take him up on the offer? He gave a half smile as Red purred.

“Yeah, sure, that makes sense,” Keith replied.

Lance started to head out of the room. “With that said, I’m betting I’ll be an instant expert at sword fighting.” 

Lance pretend to be in a fighting stance as he jabbed with an invisible sword. “You just use the sharp end to poke people with, right?”

Keith blinked, exchanged a dry look with Red and sighed. “Yeah….I’m sensing this is going to take awhile too...a long while.”

Lance tuned him out as he lead them out of the chamber. They had enough swimming...for today at least.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, for those wondering I got the information on how to not sink from here: http://www.swim-teach.com/why-do-I-sink.html
> 
> Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! ^_^


	9. Promises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's late and someone thinks Pidge should go to bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short one this time, but I wanted to do a drabble that focussed on Pidge and Green, and I also used a prompt from Browntiger15's Very Merry Voltron list: http://browntiger15.tumblr.com/post/154409012939/very-merry-voltron-2016 Today's prompt was Memories/Resoulation and it seemed to fit.

It was late, and Pidge knew everyone else in the castle was asleep. Logically, she should be too, but she couldn’t, not yet. She continued to rapidly type at her keyboard and tried to resist the urge to rub her eyes.

“So close on getting this program to work,” she muttered. “Just need to-”

A growl was heard from behind and Pidge paused to glance at Green who was giving her a glare. Pidge sighed as she turned back to her computer.

“I know it’s late, but I’m almost done,” she argued.  
Green growled again.

“I know I said that half an hour ago,” Pidge said and then saw the clock on her laptop. “Fine, an hour ago, but I just got to get this to work-”

Green promptly cut her off by leaping up onto her desk and then plunked herself on the keyboard. Pidge grunted as she yanked her hands free and scowled at the lion. 

“Green, off,” Pidge demanded.

Green stayed where she was and flicked her tail.

“Come on, Green,” Pidge whined as she tried to shove her off.

Green dug in her paws and refused to move an inch. Pidge grumbled in defeat as she leaned back in her chair. “You’re not going to move until I go to bed are you?”

Green gave a nod and flicked her tail.

Pidge ran a hand through her hair and shook her head. “Alright, you win tonight. I’ll be good and go to bed.”

Green purred as she watched Pidge get out of her chair and climb over to her bed and continued to watch until Pidge had climbed under the covers. Green then jumped off the computer and climbed up to be laying on top of Pidge’s chest.

Pidge gave a laugh as she scratched Green’s ears. “You’re as bad as Rover, you know that?”  
Green blinked at her.

“My dog back on earth,” she explained as she used her other hands to scratch under Green’s chin. “He would always just sit there and whine at me until I got off the computer to cuddle with him.”

Her eyes soften at the memory and she frowned. “Hope he’s doing okay. Not quite sure he understood I had to go away for awhile.”

Pidge did miss him. Her dog always seemed to sense when she need company. He had practically clung to her the days after learning her father and brother had disappeared. The little robot Pidge had named in his honor had acted strangely similar to Rover, which made it even more heartbreaking when it had sacrificed itself to take out that Galran soldier.

Green gave a comforting purr as she nuzzled Pidge’s cheek.

“Granted, he loves cuddling with Mom too,” Pidge continued. “...I wonder how she’s doing.”

Her one regret before leaving Earth was that Pidge had been unable to tell her mother what had happened. Granted, Pidge wasn’t certain her mother would have approved of her going off in a giant robot lion and fight evil aliens. 

_Although, Mom did surprise me by helping with my undercover at the Garrison, Pidge thought._

Pidge had no intention of revealing her plans of attending the Garrison under a secret identity to her mother. Pidge had assumed she would stop her immediately, especially after the Garrison had her arrested for sneaking into their base and hacked their computer. That plan went up in smoke when her mother discovered her fake ID cards and demanded to know what was going on.

Pidge confessed and expected her mother to reject it wholeheartedly and ground her for life, except she didn’t. Instead, her mother sighed and suggested Pidge cut her hair to further conceal her real identity.

“I won’t stop you,” her mother had explained to her shocked face. “Because you are your father’s daughter, but more importantly you are mine. If I tell you not to, you will simply find a way to sneak in regardless.” 

She had pulled Pidge into a tight hug then. “Just promise me, no matter what you find, you will come home.” Her mother gave her a squeeze. “I couldn’t bare to lose you too, Katie.”

Pidge swore she never hugged her mother so hard except for when they heard the news report on the failed Kerberos mission.

Pidge sighed as she hugged Green. “When I get home, I’m introducing you to Mom,” she stated. “She’s a big cat person so she’ll love you.”  
Green gave a soft approving growl as she nuzzled under her chin.

“And Matt, he loves cats,” Pidge continued and chuckled. “Although, he would probably try to put his baseball hats on you. He does it to Rover.” She gave a yawn. “Dad would probably try to feed you scraps from the table, even though you don’t need to eat.”

Green purred as Pidge shut her eyes. “Rover would want to play with you. So, you need to be gentle with him, okay? He’s..a huge..softie.”

Pidge gave in to sleep and began to snore softly. Green lifted her head and then repositioned her body so she was cuddling up against her paladin’s side. In her sleep, Pidge muttered and wrapped an arm around Green. 

Feeling content, Green purred into her ear as Pidge dreamed of the day her family would be reunited.


	10. Hidden Skills

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone has been stealing Pidge's pens, and Hunk is shocked to discover who the thief turns out to be.

“Okay, who keeps stealing my pens?!” Pidge declared as she entered the kitchen. Green leaped in the room growling as she carried Pidge’s backpack in her mouth.

Hunk and Yellow glanced up from bowl of batter he’d been stirring and Lance paused mid-chewing as Blue peeked over the table.

“Um...not me?” said Hunk with a raised eyebrow.

“And definitely not me,” Lance said as he leaned back. “Especially after the death glare you gave me for borrowing your hairbrush.”

“I’m serious,” Pidge said as she took her backpack from Green and unzipped it. 

“When we left Earth, I had twenty pens.” She held up two plastic packages of black pens. “I’ve used six, but somehow I’m down to ten. So, who keeps taking them?”

Lance blinked and asked “I’m more curious on why you have twenty pens.”

“I write a lot of notes, okay?” Pidge snarled. “And since I have yet to find anything similar to a ballpoint pen in space, I’m milking the ones I have.”

“Maybe it was Shiro, or Keith?” Hunk offered.

“I bet it was Keith,” Lance announced with a raised hand and Blue raised her paw in agreement.

“Shiro wouldn’t take my supplies without asking,” Pidge replied with her arms folded, “and I can’t imagine Keith needing a pen for anything. He’s either spending time training, with us or meditating in his room.”

Hunk frowned. That part was true. Truthfully, there were times he worried about Keith a bit. He seemed so focussed on being a perfect paladin that he barely seemed to do anything else. That couldn’t be healthy.

“Then maybe Coran or Allura?” Lance asked with a shrug.

“Again, neither would take things without asking and why would they want my pens?” Pidge retorted.

“Well, that just leaves the space mice,” Hunk replied as he pushed Yellow away from poking her nose into the bowl. “And if they didn’t take them, I don’t know what to tell you.”

“Maybe you just misplaced them somewhere,” Lance offered. “The castle is a big place, wouldn’t be hard to lose something as small as a pen.” 

Pidge sighed with a huff as she took the seat next to Lance. “Yeah, I guess,” she grumbled. “But it’s just going to drive me crazy wondering what happened to them.”

Hunk was silent as he returned to stirring. It was rather weird. It wasn’t as if pens could get up and walk away.

However, as the rest of the day passed, he ended up almost forgetting about it entirely until right before bed.

He yawned as Yellow followed him through the halls into his bedroom. “Man, I’m beat,” he said to Yellow as he patted her. “I’m ready to crash as soon as my head hits the pillow-”

The door to Pidge’s room cut him off causing Hunk to jump slightly and then paused.

_Wait, last I check, Pidge was still in the hangar, so who would be in her room?_

He gulped as the thoughts of ghosts popped into his head. He was SO not ready to deal with that again after what happened last time and he froze as he heard footsteps.

Yellow jumped in front and growled to protect them as a figure appeared. Yellow ceased her growling and Hunk tilted his head in confusion.  
“Red?” he asked.

Red paused and tilted her head to the side as she looked at Hunk with something small hanging out of her mouth.

“Okay, what were you doing in Pidge’s room?” Hunk asked as he kneeled to take a closer look. “That’s her private space and you shouldn’t-” He trailed off as he recognized the object in her mouth. “Wait..IS THAT PIDGE’S PEN?!”

Red didn’t linger longer enough to confirm as she sharply turned and dashed down the hall.

“No, wait, RED GET BACK HERE!” Hunk said as he and Yellow gave chase. 

Thankfully, he didn’t have far to run as Red made a sharp turn into Keith’s room. Hunk slowed his pace and gestured for Yellow to keep quiet. Maybe, if they were lucky, they could sneak up on Red. Hunk tiptoed and opened the door by a small creak.

Red was sitting up on the floor offering the pen from her mouth, and he spied a familiar gloved hand reach for it.

“Thanks, Red,” Keith’s replied as he took it. “I have no idea where you keep finding these-”

“Keith?!” Hunk exclaimed as he shoved the door opened and Yellow peek through his legs. You’re the pen thief?!”

Keith jumped as he shoved something small inside his jacket, but once he regained his composer. “What? Pen thief?”

Hunk groaned as he rubbed his eyes. “Man, Lance is not going to let this one go.”

“What are you talking about?” Keith said as he waved the pen around.

Hunk peeked through his fingers before letting his hand drop to his side. 

“Pidge’s pens have been going missing and it’s been driving her crazy,” he stated. “She’s been paranoid and looking for clues everywhere...Well, more paranoid than usual. You remember last week with the baking sheet and the signal boost and Coran's moustache catching fire?"

Keith gave a slow nod. 

"Worse than that." Hunk stated. “Anyway, point is, she thought someone was taking them, which didn’t make sense, but...well..you have them.”

Keith gave a thoughtful look as he studied the pen and then looked to Red. “Is that where you’ve been getting me the pens?” he asked. “From Pidge?”

Red nodded and growled as if she was saying “Of course! What’s the big deal?”

Keith moaned as he rubbed his eyes. “Should have known it was too good to be true,” he muttered and looked to Hunk as he handed over the pen. “Sorry, I swear I didn’t realize Red had been stealing from Pidge.”

“Pidge is the one you need to apologize to,” Hunk said as he took the pen, but then frowned. “Although...why did you need so many pens?” He gave a shrug. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you write anything down.”

_And on that note, why did you keep going through them so fast?_ Hunk thought.

Keith froze, and suddenly seemed shy as he fiddled with his fingerless gloves. 

Hunk winced. “Sorry, Dude, did I..ask something I shouldn’t?”

It really wasn’t Hunk’s business, and if Keith wished to keep it secret that was his right. “Look, I can just tell Pidge I found this on the floor-”

“No, no,” Keith said with a sigh as Red rubbed her head against Keith’s leg for comfort. “I owe an explanation, but…” He chewed his lip, “just promise me you won’t laugh.”

Hunk frowned and exchanged a confused expression with Yellow. “Alright, I promise.”

Keith seemed to relax a bit and Hunk noticed Red got rather excited as he reached inside his jacket. He brought out a small leather bound book, at least that’s what Hunk had thought until Keith handed it to him.

Keith was blushing like crazy as Hunk took it and realized from the feel of the paper that it was a sketchbook. Hunk suddenly felt uncertain if he should open it, but with an approving nod from both Keith, Red and Yellow, he did.

The first couple of pages were doodles. Some of animals, designs, and even some comic characters he recognized, however, the next few pages were rough sketches of landscapes and more detail drawings of wild animals.

Hunk studied the sketches, and then grinned slightly as he found various sketches on the space mice, Red and even random head shots of the others. There was a cartoony version of Coran twirly a mustache that made Hunk chuckle.

“You said you wouldn’t laugh,” Keith said with a pout.

Hunk stopped and realized what Keith meant. “Sorry, Dude,” he said as he held up the sketch. “But this is funny.”

Keith blinked and his frown tightened. “Oh..um..that is meant to be funny.”

Hunk’s eyes softened as he stepped closer. “Did you sketch these?” Hunk asked dumbfounded.

Keith nodded with the blush still on his cheeks.

“Dude! Where on earth did you get a sketchbook?!” Hunk asked.

“I’ve always had one,” Keith replied. “My jacket has a large inside pocket, so I’ve always kept a small sketchbook in there.” He fiddled with the tip of his hair. 

“Doodling helps me relax when I’m feeling anxious.”

“Ah, okay, I get ya” Hunk said as he flipped through the pages. He could relate to that, it was why he enjoyed baking cookies so much. “Does Shiro know about this?”

“Shiro gave me that sketchbook,” Keith explained as Red growl, “but besides him, no one knows.” 

“I see,” Hunk said quietly as he found a sketch of himself smiling and laughing. _He even sketched me,_ Hunk thought in shock. _I can’t think of ANYONE that ever tried to draw me._

Keith gave a sigh. “Look, you don’t have to pretend,” he said, “I know they’re bad.”

“Bad? What are you talking about?” Hunk said in amazement. “I’m not expert, but this is incredible to me.”

Keith was taken aback and looked to Red in shock. “Really?”

“I’ve only ever been able to draw stick people,” Hunk admitted, “but this is way better than anything I could have ever drawn.”

A thought then struck him and he closed the sketchbook. “So...you’ve been using Pidge’s pens to sketch?”

“Yyyeeaahhh,” Keith said with a deep sigh as he cast a glare in Red’s direction. “I lost the one pencil I had and Red had been bringing the pens.” He shook his head. “I swear I had no idea they were Pidge’s.”

“Pidge will probably forgive since you didn’t know,” Hunk said with a shrug, “but you should have just asked for a pen.” He raised an eyebrow. “Frankly, it’s a bit weird to see you so shy about this.” 

“Why is it weird?” Keith said as he blushed a bit again. “I’m not allowed to be a bit uncomfortable with people seeing my drawings?”

“No,” Hunk said as he sat down on Keith’s bed. “I mean, you’re so confident in flying and sword fighting, it’s just a bit surprising to see you not be a hundred percent certain on something.”

Keith tapped his fingers against his elbow. “It’s just a private thing I’ve always done,” he said slowly. “I tried showing an art teacher when I was a kid once and she said they were just chicken scratches.”

“Seriously? That teacher had to be like crazy,” Hunk said as he flipped the pages of the sketches. “These are really great…” He trailed off as he reached a page that was full of random scribbles and dots. 

Hunk blinked as he flipped. “What are these?” he said as he pointed to the page of scribbles. “Some kind of abstract art?

Keith glanced and sighed. “Those are Red’s drawings.”

Hunk blinked and glanced down to the small lion. “Red’s?”

“She saw me sketch and decided she wanted to draw too,” Keith said as he held out a pen to her.

Red gleefully snagged the pen by holding onto the tip and then pawed at Hunk’s leg to lower the sketchbook. Curious, Hunk complied and watched Red happily scribble all over the blank page and even added a few dots for good measure.

“Huh, I feel like I’m watching a scene from How To Train Your Dragon,” Hunk commented as Red continued.

“How to what?” Keith asked.

“A movie, think Pidge actually has that one on her laptop,” Hunk explained. “Will show you later.”

When she was done, Red dropped the pen from her mouth revealing the top part was now a bit crushed. Hunk frowned as he picked up the pen.

“Is this the other reason Red keeps stealing pens?” he asked.

“With both her and me sketching, we’ve been going through them a lot,” Keith explained as he took the notebook back. 

Hunk went silent as he shut his eyes in thought. He glanced to Yellow who tilted her head and nodded as if she had been thinking of the same thing.

Hunk relaxed and patted Keith’s shoulders. “Alright, here’s what we’ll do,” he stated. “We’ll go tell Pidge what happened and as a result you’re going to tell everyone about your sketchbook.” 

He shook a finger. “You don’t have to show them your drawings if you don’t want to, but you’re going to tell them.”

Keith looked ready to argue, but he gave a nod. “That’s..fair.”

“In exchange,” Hunk said, “I’m sure, Pidge and I can find something you could use for a makeshift pencil.” He grasped his chin. “For all we know, Coran might have something you can sketch with.”

Keith blinked surprised. “You guys would do that?”

“Course we would, you need a way to destress too,” Hunk said as Yellow nodded in agreement. “Cooking is my way of doing it, and clearly sketching is for you.”

Keith chewed his bottom lip. “You..don’t think Lance would tease me about it do you?”

“He’ll only tease that you felt the need to keep it a secret,” Hunk said. “He won’t mock your drawings themselves, and even if he did, I’m certain the others would tell him to knock it off, okay?”

Keith gave a half smile, looking more relaxed than he did before. “Alright, I trust you, Buddy.”

Hunk smiled, but jumped slightly as Red gave a growl. Keith sighed as he glance down. “Yes, I’m certain you can get your own pencil.”

“If not, we’ll make you one,” Hunk said in agreement. “And chewable proof one.”

Yellow growled as she pawed at his leg.

Keith snickered. “I’m thinking that means Yellow wants in on it too.”

Hunk sighed. At the rate they were going, the lions were just going to cover half the castle in art.


	11. Friendship Bracelet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance wants Keith to sketch him, and he won't take 'No' for an answer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's been awhile, but here is a fic for Voltron Fluff Week on tumblr.

“Hey, so when are you going to sketch me and Blue already?”

Keith’s eye twitched as he glanced up from the tablet he had been reading. “I told you, when I’m in the right mood.” Red gave a soft growl from his lap where she had been napping.

Lance loomed over him from behind the couch as Blue peeked over his shoulder. “You’ve been saying that for three days.”  
“I haven’t been in the mood yet,” Keith muttered.

“Well, how about you be in the mood now?” Lance asked with a pout.

Keith sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. When he had confessed to Pidge and the others that Red had been stealing the pens for his drawings, he hadn’t been certain what their reactions would be.

Shiro had smiled and gave an understanding nod, but he had already knew about his hobby. Pidge had seemed rather annoyed at first, but once Hunk explained his sketchbook her annoyance seemed to be a replace by a look of determination. 

“We’re getting you a pencil,” she had stated, “one way or another you’re getting one.”

Keith a blushed a little at that and blushed more when Allura and Coran had both praised him as they said they did have some art supplies somewhere that would do the job. Then came Lance.

Keith had been partly fearing what Lance’s reaction would be. He had been dreading he would laugh and tease him about it, but instead the opposite had happened. Lance gave a thoughtful frown at the sketches, looked to Keith with his arms folded. 

“I want you to draw me and Blue together,” Lance had said. “Like right now!”

Keith had slightly flabbergasted since he had hardly expected that reaction and just fumbly said he would later.

He regretted making that promise since Lance had been pestering him for the last few days about it.

Keith turned his head to Lance. “I’ll sketch you later, alright?”

“That’s what you keep saying,” Lance said and started to jab his shoulder. “Sketch me! Sketch me! Sketch me!”

Blue beginning to poke his shoulder with her paw didn’t help much either.

Keith’s eye twitched some more. “Lance…”

“Just draw him already,” Pidge quipped from where she was working. “It’ll be way easier if you just do it.”

Keith sighed and looked to Red for support, but all she did was yawn in his face. He shook his head and he turned to Lance. “Fine, I’ll sketch you two, right now. Happy?”

“Extremely,” Lance said as he scooped up Blue into his arms and went to sit in front.

Keith sighed as he reached for his sketch book, but after making certain he gave Red her own paper and one of the cyber pencils Coran had given him. She was going to want to draw as soon as she saw Keith doing it.

“Ready?” Keith asked as he held the pencil.

“Almost,” Lance said as he reached into his pocket. “Blue and I need one more thing.”

“What? A hat?” Pidge asked as she pulled Green away from her keyboard.

Lance snorted. “No, these.” 

He held up what seemed to be a pair of blue and white rings. From what Keith could tell, they had been woven from some threads. One seemed only big enough to fit around Lance’s wirst, but the other seemed more fitting to be a small necklace.

“Dare I ask what those are for?” Keith asked.

“Friendship bracelets,” Lance said as he put on his own and then put the bigger one around Blue’s neck. “I made them yesterday for me and Blue, so figured better wear them for our portrait. Right, Girl?”

Blue gave a happy growl as she puffed out her chest like she was showing it off.

Keith blinked dumbly. “You made your lion a friendship bracelet?”

Lance gave a shrug as Lance climbed into his lap. “Is there a reason not to?”

Keith opened, but then promptly shut his mouth. “No, I guess not,” he said and return his gaze to this sketchbook. “No more moving. I’ll try to make this fast.”

“Hey, take your time,” Lance said with a grin and gestured to his face. “I think it takes time to capture all of this beauty.”

Blue growled in agreement.

Keith made no comment as he went to work, and heard Red begin her own artwork besides him.

The time strangely went quicker as Keith began to draw each curve and line. As usual, he almost forgot Lance and Blue were actually there and he wasn’t just staring a a pair of replicas.

He did give Lance a quick break to have a stretch and then he went back to work. Before long, Keith erased a couple of lines and looked it over.

“Huh, I think it’s done,” he said as Red glanced over for a peek. Keith fingered the paper before he handed it over. “You’re chin is a bit uneven, and I had trouble getting Blue’s paws right, but-”

“Dude, this is awesome!” Lance said as he held up the drawing. “Ha, you even got Blue’s smile right. I’m so framing this! Thanks, Keith.”

Pidge rose from her seat and moved closer to take a look. “Wow, yeah, that is really good. You even got Lance’s crooked grin.”

“Hey, it is not crooked it’s impish,” Lance retorted hotly. “Big difference.”

Keith blushed as he rubbed his neck. He still wasn’t use to hearing all of this praise.

“You’re, uh welcome,” he muttered.

Blue climbed off of Lance’s lap to let him stand as he reached into his pocket. “And to thank you, here!”

Lance held out another pair of friendship bracelets that were identical to ones he and Blue wore, except these ones were red and white. Keith stared at them as he held out his hand and looked them over.

“You made friendship bracelets for me and Red?” he asked as Red poked her nose at it.

“Dude, I made a set for everyone,” he said as he dropped a pair into Pidge’s hand. “Figure might as well include everyone on the fun.”  
Keith fingered the bracelet feeling uncertain if he should put it on or not.

“If you don’t put it on, that’s fine,” Lance said with a shrug. “It doesn’t matter to me.”

Keith raised an eyebrow. “Then why did you make it?”

“Same reason you sketch,” he said as he pulled out more bracelets, “because I felt like it.”

Keith didn’t reply to that as he watched Lance walk off and Red stared at the bracelet curiously.

In the end, Keith ended up tucking the bracelet into his coat pocket, and figured he would forget them. However, when he arrived for the next meeting, the first thing he noticed that everyone, including the lions, were each wearing one of Lance’s bracelets.

“You gotta be kidding,” he muttered, but then felt a tug at his pants.

Red was staring up at him with a hopeful growl before tilting her head towards where Blue sat and happily wearing her bracelet.  
“Don’t tell me you’re jealous?” Keith asked.

Red growled and caused Keith to raise his hands in defense. 

“Alright, alright,” Keith said as he reached into his pocket and put Red’s bracelet around her neck. “There, happy?”

Red pawed at her bracelet before giving a content purr and rubbed against Keith.

“I’ll take that as a ‘Yes’,” Keith said as he tied the bracelet on his own wrist and had to admit, he felt a bit happy too.


	12. War of Pillows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Doesn't take much to start a pillow fight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another fic written for the Voltron fluff week. Enjoy all!

Pidge’s eye twitched, as she slumped further into the couch with her arms crossed. “That is not how computers work.”

Lance, Keith and Hunk gave a sigh in unison without taking their eyes off the screen.

“We know, Pidge,” Lance said dryly as he hit the pause button on the remote. “You’ve been saying that for 20 minutes. Can’t you just sit back and enjoy the movie?”

Pidge scowled at him as she dug her fingers into the cushion. “No, I can’t! Because all I can think about is how apparently the people who wrote this have never even typed on a computer.”

Hunk rubbed his eyes. “Green doesn’t seem to have any trouble with it,” he said as he pointed to the lions over his shoulder.

Pidge glanced and saw all of their lions were still enjoying their nap on the floor. The only lion that was absent was Black who was currently with Shiro and Coran in the hangar.

“Well, I’m not Green,” Pidge pouted. “Besides, how can you complain about me? Keith spent an hour ranting about the plot holes in the last movie we watched.”

Keith slouched forward. “Because the book it was suppose to be base off was better and they completely ignored that-”

“Please,” Lance said with a sigh and he held up his hand. “We don’t need to hear that again. Pidge will you just sit back and have some fun?”

Pidge pouted, but then her eyes lit up as her eyes landed upon one of the extra pillows Hunk had fetched earlier. “Fun, huh?” she said with a sly smirk as she picked one of the pillows. “Like this?!”

Fast as lightning, Pidge whacked the pillow at Lance’s head. 

Keith and Hunk laughed as Lance glared from under the pillow. “Really?” he asked.

Pidge gave an impish grin. “THIS is how I have fun and that’s what you told me to do right?”

Lance’s eyes flared up as the spark of a challenge rose inside him. “Ooh, it’s on now! Take this!”

Thankfully, after spending years of getting into sibling arguments with Matt, Pidge ducked. Hunk managed to dodge, however, no one was able to warn the sleeping lions. The pillow flew in the air and collided into both Blue and Green’s faces.

The lions jumped up, growling madly as if an enemy was about to attack, but when they saw there was no danger they paused. Green and Blue blinked at the pillow, and raised their heads at their paladins.

Lance snickered. “Oh, man, sorry guys, I was aiming for Pidge.”

All of the lions’ eyes narrowed.

Keith laughed as he covered his mouth. “Although, that was funny and you guys are getting out of shape.”  
The lions stared at one another growling like they were debating.

“Yyeeaahh,” Hunk teased as he reached for another pillow. “That’s bad if a pillow can sneak up on you-”

Red seized a pillow with her mouth, jumped in the air and tossed it. The pillow flew and smacked Keith right in the face.

The paladins went quiet as Red landed back on the ground.

Keith slowly removed the pillow off his face. “Did Red just tossed a pillow at me?”

“Indeed she did,” Lance said clicked his tongue and picked up another pillow. “And can we agree we all know what this means?”

The paladins nodded and Pidge was the first to strike. “PALADINS VS LIONS PILLOW FIGHT!”

Chaos then entered the room as pillows flew back and forth. The lions jumped, and flung pillows at their young paladins heads and the humans did their best to retaliate. Within ten minutes, the paladins were taking cover behind the couch as the lions growled from their conquered land of the table.

“Okay, guys,” Keith declared as he held up the pillow. “I’M GOING IN!”

“GO GET ‘EM, KEITH!” Hunk cheered as Yellow tossed a pillow at his head.

Keith smirked as he raced forward, pillow in hand and tossed it. It would have been a perfect shot, except it was then the door opened.

Shiro entered with Coran and seemed very engrossed in a discussion until a pillow greeted his face. The fighting instantly stopped as Shiro blinked dazed and Black poked her head in to poke at the fallen pillow.

Coran looked to the pillow and looked around the room, no doubt taking in the mess it was in. “I’m not cleaning this up,” he stated firmly.

“Noted,” Shiro said as he frowned and looked to his fellow paladins. “Mind explaining why it looks like a warzone in here?”

Pidge gave a sheepish smile as she ducked behind Lance. “Um...paladin vs lion pillow fight?”

“A pillow fight?” Shiro asked with an amused smile. “Why on Earth did you suddenly decide to start that?”

“We didn’t,” Keith argued as he pointed. “The lions started it!”

Shiro raised an eyebrow as he crossed his arms and Black ventured closer to the other lions who were watching her with intrigue. “You seriously expect me to believe the lions randomly decided to start a pillow fight and-”

WHACK!

Another pillow slammed Shiro in the face. Everyone froze as the pillow fell to the floor and gradually turned their heads. Black seemed quite pleased with her attack as she growled and lowered her front to tease Shiro.

“I see,” Shiro said slowly. He then turned to Coran and handed him the tablet. “Coran, you’re going to need this.”

“Oh?” Coran asked as he tilted his head. “Whatever for?”

Shiro said nothing as he joined the other paladins and picked up his own pillow. “To keep score! HEADS UP!”

He threw a pillow and Black was unable to dodge it as she was hit. The other paladins cheered and swiftly the battle resumed.

Coran shook his head in amusement as he pulled up a chair to witness the anarchy.


End file.
